Rebels down two Ukrainian fighter jets

Pro-Russian separatists have shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets in the country's east with conflicting reports on the fate of the pilots.

A man in front of his destroyed house

Fresh violence is surging through the rebel-held eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk. (AAP)

Pro-Russian rebels have shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets in eastern Ukraine just days after the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, a Ukrainian military spokesman says.

"Two Sukhoi Ukrainian fighter jets have been shot down. The fate of the pilots is not known," spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky said, adding the planes were brought down about 25 kilometres from the crash site of MH17.

But a second military spokesman said the jets had been downed at a different location by rockets fired by insurgents. The two pilots managed to parachute out, he said.

"Today in the south of the Lugansk region close to the village of Dmytrivka, pro-Russian fighters shot two Su-25 jets from a missile system," spokesman Vladislav Seleznev said on Wednesday.

"The pilots took evasive action ... but the planes were hit," he said.


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