KIEV, June 18. /ITAR-TASS/. A total of 147 Ukrainian servicemen have died during Kiev’s army operation in Ukraine’s eastern regions, the Defense Ministry’s military and medical department’s head Vitaily Andronaty said during a meeting of the parliamentary healthcare committee on Wednesday.

“On March 8 - June 18, 147 military have died, 267 have been wounded and 92 slightly injured,” Andronaty said.

The Ukrainian military and militias have been engaged in fierce clashes with each other in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which refused to recognize the authorities who had been propelled to power amid riots during a coup in Ukraine in February 2014.

A Kiev-led military operation against federalization supporters in Ukraine's East that Kiev calls an antiterrorism operation involves armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation. It has already claimed hundreds of lives, including civilian, and left some buildings destroyed and damaged.

The Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which border on Russia, held referendums on May 11, in which most voters supported independence from Ukraine. Their independence has not been officially recognized.

Russia has repeatedly called on Kiev to end the operation and engage in dialogue with Ukraine’s Southeast. The operation, however, continues under newly elected President Petro Poroshenko, who won the May 25 early presidential elections and took office on June 7.