Rockets Kill 5 Civilian Mourners at Ukraine Funeral
KYIV – Five civilians were killed and 10 others were injured on Tuesday when rockets allegedly fired by pro-Russia separatists exploded among the mourners at a village funeral in Ukraine’s breakaway Donetsk region, local media reported.
A Ukrainian military spokesman, Vladislav Seleznev, said the insurgents fired Grad missiles at a military command post but instead caused the death of civilians attending a funeral.
The incident occurred in the village of Sartan, near Mariupol, which is part of the Donetsk region, Seleznev said and noted that the rocket barrage caused no injuries among military personnel.
Quoting sources from the village’s Military Defense Council, the local Novosti Donbass newspaper reported that several explosions were heard in the vicinity, and that the civilians who were killed were taking part in a funeral procession.
The Military Defense Staff has decided to inform the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) of this new violation of the ceasefire that both sides signed in Minsk last September 5, Seleznev said.