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 The forces of the Western-backed Kiev government are steadily
gaining the upper hand over the separatists in Russian-speaking
eastern Ukraine and are tightening the noose around the main rebel
bastions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Reuters reporters in Donetsk said mortar bombs had struck
Chelyuskintsev Street in the north of the city, a few km (miles)
from the frontline of the conflict, shattering the windows of
several five-floor apartment buildings and shearing off the branches
of trees and downing power lines.
The attack left large craters in the street and a meter-wide hole in
the first floor of one of the apartment buildings.
"The Ukrainian army or whoever they are – they’re bombing us again.
I've lived in the apartment building my entire life and now they
want to take everything I have. There is nothing left to lose here
in this city," said Nina, 52.
The Donetsk city administration, controlled by the separatists, said
nine residents had been killed in shelling on Wednesday. The
Ukrainian government denies that its forces are targeting civilian
areas.
Another nine people, pro-Ukrainian volunteer fighters supporting
Kiev's forces, were killed overnight in separate clashes near
Donetsk, Ukrainian officials said.
The government in Kiev and its allies have accused Moscow of
orchestrating the separatist rebellion and equipping the rebels with
tanks, missiles and other heavy weaponry.
Moscow denies this and accuses Kiev of waging a war against its own
people and shelling civilians.
The conflict has plunged relations between Russia and the West to
their worst level since the end of the Cold War in 1991.
The United Nations puts the death toll in the conflict at 2,086,
including civilians and combatants. That figure has nearly doubled
since late July, when Ukrainian forces stepped up their offensive
and the fighting spread to major urban areas.
"DUST AND SMOKE"
Another Donetsk resident, Lidia, recounted how shelling had hit the
shop where she works.
"I hid behind the counter and closed my eyes. When I opened them
everything was dark, full of dust and smoke," she said.
"How can we live like this being bombed by the leaders of our own
country?"
Six military trucks rumbled past the wreckage of the house,
including one equipped with an anti-tank machine gun and a mobile
Grad rocket system. Rebels, wearing green camouflage and sunglasses,
looked over the wreckage as they passed.
"They’ll pay for this," one rebel said, as rebel convoys sped
through parts of the city, running red lights.
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Elsewhere in the region, Ukrainian forces fought street battles with
rebels in the town of Ilovaisk overnight into Wednesday, Interior
Ministry official Anton Gerashchenko said.
The nine Ukrainian volunteer fighters were killed in those clashes.
"The enemy can come up to you from wherever he wants and shoot from
an attic, a basement or from a children's nursery," Gerashchenko
said.
Separately, health authorities said 34 civilians had been killed as
a result of fighting in the 24 hours up to noon Wednesday in the
wider Donetsk region.
Authorities in Luhansk, the other big separatist stronghold, also
reported artillery fire and heavy automatic fire on Wednesday as
government forces kept up their assault on rebel positions there.
Luhansk has been largely cut off for weeks and is without water and
regular supplies of electricity which have hit mobile and landline
phone connections.
Only vital foodstuffs are on sale while long queues form for bread
being distributed from vans.
"The humanitarian crisis is critical. Since there's no electricity,
people are now cooking meals outside in their yards on open fires,"
Oleksander Sabenko, a municipal official, told the Ukrainian news
channel 112.ua.
As well as worsening conditions for people on the ground, Ukrainian
Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said the fighting was draining the
potential of the economy by the day, with attacks damaging mines,
power stations, rail lines and bridges.
"Russia is aware that rebuilding the Donbass (the industrial east)
will cost not millions but billions of hryvnia," he said.
(Writing by Dmitry Zhdannikov and Richard Balmforth; Editing by
Gareth Jones)
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