In PHOTOS: Ukraine VS pro-Russian separatist fighters

The battle continues between Ukraine soldiers and pro-Russia rebels.

Ukraine on Thursday blamed pro-Russia militants to bring down the Malaysian Airlines passenger plane with 295 on board.

A Ukrainian interior ministry official was quoted by Interfax-Ukraine news agency as saying, "A civilian airliner travelling from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur has just been shot down by a Buk anti-aircraft system ... 280 passengers and 15 crew have been killed."

Tensions have been high between Ukraine and Russia since street protests forced former pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych from power in February.

Russia subsequently annexed Ukraine's southeastern Crimea region and a pro-Russia separatist rebellion has been raging in Ukraine's eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Ukrainian forces have been struggling to quell the separatist unrest. Ukraine's government has accused Russia of allowing weapons and military equipment, including tanks, to cross the border illegally into the hands of pro-Russia separatists.

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An armed pro-Russian separatist from the so-called Battalion Vostok (East) attaches a flag to an armoured transport before deploying from a base in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

Ukrainian forces regained more ground but sustained further casualties on Thursday in clashes with separatists, while two Western allies urged Russia's Vladimir Putin to exert more pressure on the rebels to find a negotiated end to the conflict.

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A pro-Russian fighter mans a checkpoint in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

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An armed pro-Russian separatist from the so-called Battalion Vostok (East) prepares before deploying from a base in eastern Ukrainian.

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Pro-Russian rebels sit in a truck as they set out from a base in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

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Drivers chat from their vehicles near a destroyed railroad bridge which fell over a main road near the village of Novobakhmutivka.

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Ukrainian soldiers look out from a tank at a position some 60 km from the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

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Pro-Russian separatist fighters from the so-called Battalion Vostok (East) wait behind a sandbag wall at a checkpoint on the outskirts of the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

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A Ukrainian soldier looks out from an armoured vehicle at a position about 60 km from the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.

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Pro-Russian separatist fighters wait behind sandbag walls at a checkpoint in east Ukrainian.