LUHANSK/DONETSK, July 23. /ITAR-TASS/. Militia forces and Ukrainian troops are engaged in fierce fighting in the country's southeast while the death toll continues to rise.

Eleven people were killed in the Donetsk Region, the local administration said. Ukrainian troops seized Donetsk airport and reached the city's outskirts while the central part of Donetsk remains under the control of the militia forces.

Power lines of the Avdeyevka coking plant near Donetsk were damaged as a result of the fighting. If the plant suffers a total power outage, a major environmental disaster is inevitable, the plant's management said.

Three people were killed, ten injured and dozens of residential buildings damaged in the Luhansk Region, local authorities said. Luhansk militia said they downed two Ukrainian fighter jets and destroyed several artillery batteries.