Ukraine unrest: Clash at Donetsk airport ‘kills dozens’
27 May 2014
Last updated at 08:23
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Mark Lowen reports from the ground in Donetsk during a gun battle at the city’s airport
At least 30 pro-Russia separatists have been killed so far in fighting at the airport in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, insurgents say.
Armed separatists tried to take over the airport on Monday.
Kyiv responded with air attacks and a stand-off developed.
Ukraine’s new President Petro Poroshenko on Monday vowed to continue “anti-terrorist operations” in the east, saying the situation should “last hours not months”.
A representative of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic told the BBC that reports of at least 30 dead in Monday’s fighting were accurate.
One insurgent told Associated Press the bodies had been brought to a hospital in the city.
Monday’s clashes started after separatist militants stormed the Sergei Prokofiev Donetsk airport in the early hours of the morning.
Pro-Russia militants tried to take over the airport early on Monday morning
The Ukrainian military responded quickly with air strikes and an assault by heavily armed troops.
It is not clear who is in control of the airport. It was closed early on Monday.
Reporters said there was heavy gunfire throughout the day and night, with black smoke rising into the air.
President’s vow
The attempt to seize the airport may have been intended to prevent Mr Poroshenko from travelling there after he said his first trip in office would be to visit the restive east.
The separatists may have been trying to prevent a visit by the new president
Mr Poroshenko, a 48-year-old billionaire and former foreign minister, was on Monday formally declared the winner of Sunday’s presidential election with 54% of the vote.
He vowed east Ukraine would not be “turned into Somalia”, adding: “The anti-terrorist operation cannot and should not last two or three months. It should and will last hours.”
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Petro Poroshenko: “We will fight for the trust of the people of Donbas”
However, Mr Poroshenko has also said he wants to talk to Russia to end the crisis.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was “open to dialogue” with Mr Poroshenko but insisted that military action against separatists must end.
Ukraine’s military is engaged in an offensive in the east to tackle armed separatists who declared independence in the provinces of Luhansk and Donetsk.
The insurgency developed after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych fled Kyiv amid bloody street protests and calls for closer ties with the EU.
Russia then annexed the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine.