KIEV Three civilians have been killed by shelling by pro-Russian rebels in Ukraine’s separatist eastern regions, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday, following a week of the deadliest fighting in over a month.
Advertisement
A Reuters witness reported seeing the body of man in a burning building, though it was unclear if it was the same person.
According to BBC, Ukraine said that the separatists themselves opened fire on the city while the latter claimed that one civilian died in the overnight attacks.
More than 6,400 people have been killed since the war started in April 2014, the United Nations says.
A member of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic forces gestures as he sits with others on an armoured vehicle on the roadside.
One Ukrainian serviceman was also killed and four others were wounded, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in a televised briefing.
Independent experts, the Ukrainian government, Western leaders and North Atlantic Treaty Organisation have all accused Russia of supplying the separatists with weaponry and troops, but Moscow denies the charge and says any Russians fighting in Ukraine are volunteers.
The peace accord calls on Kiev to see through a raft of measures to grant a special status to the rebel-controlled areas of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
A man was killed during shelling Saturday night in Donetsk and a female doctor was injured when a shell hit the nearby N23 hospital, rebel authorities told AFP.
“I have no explanation”.
“We believe that we have enough strength to stand against the enemy”, Poroshenko said.
Advertisement
The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), which is monitoring the ceasefire, has said neither of the rival sides has fully withdrawn even heavy artillery as required by the peace deal – signed in February.
