The conflict in eastern Ukraine has claimed the lives of almost 2,100 Ukrainian servicemen, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said.

"In all, the aggression on the part of the neighboring state has taken the lives of almost 2,100 of our servicemen. Lest we forget the heroes who died fighting for a free independent Ukraine, eternal glory to them," Poroshenko said on the Independence Square in Kyiv on the occasion of the 24th anniversary of the independence of Ukraine.

The audience commemorated the deceased.