These were the first such attacks on central Donetsk since a February truce. On Sundya, rebels said that at least one person was killed and several injured as Ukrainian forces shelled a hospital and several residential blocks in central Donetsk.
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A building burns after shelling between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on July 18, 2015.
Meanwhile, the fighting continued in eastern Ukraine, with three civilians and a Ukrainian soldier killed in the previous 24 hours.
“The vast majority of shelling and armed attacks by the rebels take place at night to avoid attracting the attention of worldwide observers”, Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.
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.
The weekend shelling comes after Dutch investigators released a report last week determining that pro-Russian rebels near Donetsk were responsible for shooting down Malaysia Airlines flight MH-17, killing 298 people. “Last time the centre of Donetsk was hit was in February”.
It also says the exercise “comes at the explicit request of the Ukrainian government and military”.
OSCE monitors were unable to say which side actually fired, though they noted that neither side had finished withdrawing heavy artillery from the front lines, something both were supposed to do under the terms of the Minsk deal.
“A few days earlier we had been in separatist-held territory and heard the fighters using similar heavy weapons”, he said.
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On Friday, the head of the OSCE Ivica Dacic described a worsening humanitarian crisis in the east and urged both sides to adhere to the Minsk agreement, which he said was the only chance to achieve peace.
