10 Civilians Killed by Shelling in Donetsk
KYIV – Ten people were killed in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine with eight of the deaths blamed on an artillery shell that slammed into a bus stop as passengers were getting on a vehicle, the Ukrinform news agency reported Wednesday.
Citing eyewitnesses, the agency said that the shell apparently was fired from a multiple launcher.
According to pro-Russian separatists, two other civilians died in the same city in another artillery strike when a projectile fell near a school.
Igor Kostenko, the education minister in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, said that in addition to the two killed, three people were wounded but that none of the victims were students or teachers.
The incident coincided with the start of the school year on Wednesday in the Donetsk region which is controlled by pro-Russian separatists.
The clashes between the pro-Russians and the Ukrainian government forces are continuing near the region’s international airport, despite the peace deal signed by both sides a month ago in the Belarusian capital of Minsk.
The shelling that took place in Donetsk’s capital during the months before the ceasefire heavily damaged 20 out of 150 schools, while at least 46 other schools were partially damaged, according to Kostenko.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials reported new ceasefire violations on Wednesday by the pro-Russian militias in at least six areas in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.
The United Nations estimates that more than 3,000 people have died in the fighting since April in Donetsk and Lugansk.