At least 30 people killed in rebel shelling of Ukrainian city after Pro-Russian separatists reject peace deal and launch offensive. - The Sky Herald

728x90 AdSpace

Trending
24 January 2015

At least 30 people killed in rebel shelling of Ukrainian city after Pro-Russian separatists reject peace deal and launch offensive.

Shelling by pro-Russian rebels has killed at least 30 people, and injured 83, in Mariupol - a single day after the separatists rejected a peace deal signed last year.
'Indiscriminate rocket fire' from long range GRAD Missiles struck a market, two schools, homes and shops according to the regional police force.
Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko has cut his visit to Saudi Arabia short to call an emergency meeting of his military officials, to coordinate the government's response.
The country's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk has condemned the bombing as a 'deliberate attack on peaceful citizens' and laid the overall blame on Russia's doorstep. 
He said: 'The world needs to stop the Russian aggressor threatening Ukraine, Europe and global security. 
'The problem is in the hero-town of Moscow, the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin.'   
A pro-Russian rebel holds a Ukrainian flag found in a check-point captured by pro-Russian rebels, at the town of Krasniy Partizan
A pro-Russian rebel holds a Ukrainian flag found in a check-point captured by pro-Russian rebels, at the town of Krasniy Partizan
Senseless: Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk has condemned the bombing as a deliberate attack on peaceful citizens
Senseless: Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk has condemned the bombing as a deliberate attack on peaceful citizens
Incinerated: Cars, buildings and homes in Mariupol (pictured) were destroyed in the shelling attack 
Incinerated: Cars, buildings and homes in Mariupol (pictured) were destroyed in the shelling attack 
Deceased: The two bodies pictured in this residential area in Mariupol are among 23 who lost their lives
Deceased: The two bodies pictured in this residential area in Mariupol are among 23 who lost their lives
Terrified: A 76-year-old pensioner who witnessed the attacks said he could 'hear the earth tremble' from the basement where he was hiding
Terrified: A 76-year-old pensioner who witnessed the attacks said he could 'hear the earth tremble' from the basement where he was hiding
Revenge: It is thought today's attack in Mariupol (pictured) was payback for the explosion which killed 13 people in the rebel-held eastern region of Donetsk on Thursday

A 76-year-old pensioner who witnessed the attacks, said they started in the early morning.
Leonid Vasilenko, who lives in the eastern suburbs of Mariupol, said: 'The walls were shaking, the window frames were shaking, paint started to crumble off the house. 
'I hid in the basement. What else can you do? I took the dog and the cat. In the basement you could hear the earth tremble.' 
Despite international calls for a ceasefire, the separatists' leader Alexander Zakharchenko has vowed to push on with a new offensive and expel Ukrainian troops from the eastern region entirely.
It is thought today's attack was payback for the explosion which killed 13 people in the rebel-held eastern region of Donetsk on Thursday

He said the insurgents would take no further part in peace talks, adding: 'Today an offensive was launched on Mariupol. This will be the best possible monument to all our dead.
'Attempts to talk about a cease-fire will no longer be undertaken by our side.' 
At a defence meeting in Kiev, Ukraine's defence minister Stepan Poltorak said there had been a serious escalation in fighting on the front-lines in the last 24 hours.
'Starting from Luhansk region and ending in Mariupol, everywhere illegal armed groups together with Russian units are going on the offensive,' he said
People lay flowers and boy holds a placard reading 'I'm not separatist, I'm Misha' during a mourning ceremony for people who died in an explosion near of a bus stop on Thursday
People lay flowers and boy holds a placard reading 'I'm not separatist, I'm Misha' during a mourning ceremony for people who died in an explosion near of a bus stop on Thursday
A pro-Russian rebel patrols positions at a check-point in the town of Krasniy Partizan
A pro-Russian rebel patrols positions at a check-point in the town of Krasniy Partizan

Shelling: Missiles struck the coastal city of Mariupol (pictured) and destroyed residential buildings
Shelling: Missiles struck the coastal city of Mariupol (pictured) and destroyed residential buildings
Destruction: The shelling by pro-Russian rebels killed 20 people in the city of Mariupol, Ukraine (pictured)
Destruction: The shelling by pro-Russian rebels killed 20 people in the city of Mariupol, Ukraine (pictured)

No compromise: The deadly attack comes just one day after separatists rejected a peace deal brokered to hinder the fighting 
No compromise: The deadly attack comes just one day after separatists rejected a peace deal brokered to hinder the fighting 
'Strategically important': The coastal city of Mariupol lies on the Azov sea, between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula
'Strategically important': The coastal city of Mariupol lies on the Azov sea, between Russia and the annexed Crimean Peninsula

The rebels' new multi-pronged offensive against the country's troops has seriously hindered recent attempts to mediate an end to the fighting.
Government-controlled Mariupol occupies a strategically important position on the Sea of Azov, on a coastal route from the Russian border to Crimea, which was annexed by Russia from Ukraine last March. 
Fierce fighting since the peace deal was signed in Minsk in September has heightened fears the rebel forces would try to establish a land link between Russia and Crimea. They currently have positions around six miles from Mariupol's eastern outskirts. 
The agreement signed in the Belarusian capital tried to instigate a cease-fire and the removal all of heavy weapons from certain areas in eastern Ukraine.
But it has been repeatedly violated by both sides - and heavy artillery and rocket barrages have increased the civilian death toll in the last few weeks.
On Thursday, mortar shells rained down on rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine - killing 13 people at a bus stop.
The separatists retaliated both swiftly and brutally by parading captured Ukrainian troops through the city as enraged residents kicked and shouted abuse at them.
Surrounded: Rebel forces currently have positions six miles outside the city of Mariupol, which they bombed this morning
Surrounded: Rebel forces currently have positions six miles outside the city of Mariupol, which they bombed this morning
Cut off: Emergency workers inspected a damaged bridge on January 21, following an overnight blast which severed the railway link between Mariupol and Ukraine's west
Cut off: Emergency workers inspected a damaged bridge on January 21, following an overnight blast which severed the railway link between Mariupol and Ukraine's west

And last weekend, battles intensified over Donetsk airport, which has been reduced to rubble after months of fighting.
Rebels eventually took control of the terminal and fighting has continued on its fringes since.
Last week, Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko claimed there were 9,000 Russian troops inside his country and called on Moscow to withdraw them - blaming it for an armed aggression.
Moscow denies sending soldiers and weapons to east Ukraine, despite what the West deems 'irrefutable proof'.
Zakharchenko, who claims rebel fighters were advancing in three directions in Donetsk, said: 'We will hit them until we reach the border of Donetsk region, and if I see the danger for Donetsk from any other city, I will destroy this threat there.'
On Wednesday, foreign ministers from Russia, Ukraine, France and Germany agreed to revive a division line between separatists and Ukraine's troops, but fighting has continued unabated. 
The tentative peace deal forged in Berlin called on both Ukrainian troops and Russian-backed rebels to pull their heavy arms nine miles on either side of the division line - although there was no agreement reached on a withdrawal of troops. 
Retaliation: The attack in Mariupol comes just two days after a grenade explosion at a bus stop in the rebel-held area of Donetsk killed 13 people
Retaliation: The attack in Mariupol comes just two days after a grenade explosion at a bus stop in the rebel-held area of Donetsk killed 13 people
Fury: The leader of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko (left) said: 'Attempts to talk about a cease-fire will no longer be undertaken by our side'
Fury: The leader of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Zakharchenko (left) said: 'Attempts to talk about a cease-fire will no longer be undertaken by our side'
Death: At least 13 people were killed, and many were injured, in the bus attack in Donetsk - just hours after peace talks in Berlin called for a cease fire
Death: At least 13 people were killed, and many were injured, in the bus attack in Donetsk - just hours after peace talks in Berlin called for a cease fire
Offensive: Zakharchenko has said pro-Russian rebels (pictured) are advancing in three directions in Donetsk, in a bid to claim the city entirely
Offensive: Zakharchenko has said pro-Russian rebels (pictured) are advancing in three directions in Donetsk, in a bid to claim the city entirely
But rebel spokesman Eduard Basurin threw the agreement into doubt by saying the insurgents 'will no longer consider the Minsk agreement in the form it was signed'.
Basurin's bold statement contradicted the official position of Russia, which has repeatedly pledged respect for the Minsk agreement, which also requested the withdrawal of foreign fighters and the monitoring of the Russian-Ukrainian border by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
The UN human rights agency has estimated that 5,100 people have been killed as a result of the conflict since April last year. 



At least 30 people killed in rebel shelling of Ukrainian city after Pro-Russian separatists reject peace deal and launch offensive. Reviewed by Unknown on Saturday, January 24, 2015 Rating: 5 Shelling by pro-Russian rebels has killed at least 30 people, and injured 83, in Mariupol - a single day after the separatists reject...