AFP: Global alarm over Ukraine fighting as death toll hits 19

Relatives of one of the seven Ukrainian soldiers who died during fighting in eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiyivka, in Donetsk region, react next to the coffin during a mourning ceremony on Independence Square in Kyiv on Feb. 1, 2017.The death toll from the latest escalation in fighting in Ukraine rose to 16 as international alarm rang out over the spike in bloodshed in the European Union's back yard. Government forces and pro-Russian separatists exchanged mortar and grenade fire for a fourth day around the flashpoint town of Avdiyivka that sits just north of the rebels' de facto capital Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.