Fire from gov't forces kills two, wounds child at Donetsk train station
26 May 2014, 21:12 -- Two adults were killed and a child was injured by fire from government forces on the square in front of the rail terminal in Donetsk on Monday during a current anti-militia operation, the press service of the unilaterally proclaimed 'Donetsk People's Republic' told Interfax agency.
The press service did not say whether those killed were militia members or civilians. Earlier on Monday, the press service said the rail terminal was in flames. 'Flames are coming out of second-floor windows. The fire was apparently caused by a shell,' it said. The terminal building was closed and everyone who had been inside was evacuated.
Ukraine jets bomb Donetsk airport - reports
Ukrainian government warplanes on Monday bombed self-defense forces that had seized Donetsk airport and refused to surrender. First, a Sukhoi Su-25 jet delivered warning strikes to force the militia fighters to surrender. After that, a Mikoyan MiG-29 attacked places where self-defense had built up pockets of resistance, Vladislav Seleznyov, spokesman for the military operation, said on Facebook.
Later, a strike from a combat helicopter had destroyed a surface-to-air missile system at the airport that was being used by the militia forces. Seleznyov denied reports that the militia fighters had shot down a Ukrainian helicopter.
Meanwhile the Donetsk People's Republic said warplanes were making circles over the airport and that a missile fired by one of them had hit the Tochmash plant, a manufacturer of equipment for geological prospecting and for oil and gas and mining industries.
'Donetsk. One of the missiles has hit the premises of the Tochmash plant. There are two volleys of smoke over the airport. Gunfire can be heard. There are aircraft in the sky,' the Donetsk People's Republic said on Twitter, Interfax reports.
A group of Russian and foreign reporters come under fire near Donetsk airport
A group of Russian and foreign reporters has come under fire of Ukrainian law enforces half-a-kilometer from the international airport of Donetsk. Fighting is currently underway at the airport, and a sniper is shooting at reporters who are trying to capture the developments on video.
'We are lying on the ground, covering ourselves from the gunfire,' a journalist of Delovoy Petersburg news agency told RIA Novosti. She said that she was moving along the airport with a group of the militia, while Ukrainian forces began to fire at them.
The government of the Donetsk People's Republic began to evacuate people, who live near the airport, where the skirmish has been going on since this morning, the Donetsk People's Republic representatives wrote on Twitter.
'The employees of the motor licensing and inspection department have blocked the roads, leading to the airport of Donetsk. The militia began to evacuate people from the surrounding areas. According to the militia, Ukrainian forces dispose a lot of snipers,' the statement says.
According to some reports, residents of districts located close to the airport are being evacuated. On the videos broadcast live from the site of the events can be seen law enforcement officers asking a group of journalists to leave the combat area. However, the reporters fail to withdraw from the site, because all the area near the airport is under gunfire.
The traffic in Donetsk downtown, as well as all the approaches to the international airport are blcked by traffic police.
According to preliminary reports, Ukrainian Air Force is applying assault aviation to attack the positions of militia. The press service of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic reports that one helicopter might have been shot down.
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