Air raids kill 9 in east Ukrainian town
Iran Press TV
Thu Jul 3, 2014 8:54AM GMT
Ukrainian military forces have allegedly carried out two airstrikes on the densely-populated residential areas of the Cossack settlement of Luganskaya in east of the country causing numerous casualties and major devastation.
While witnesses and local authorities insist the deadly airstrikes were launched by the Ukrainian air force, Kiev says the devastation was the result of shelling by protesters, RT reported Wednesday.
"The first plane appeared at 11 am, and hit the center of the town – destroying the police building, damaging the courthouse, and razing two houses. We won't know the death toll until the rubble is cleared," said Vladimir Bilous, the head of the local administration.
Bilous further added that the second air strike was even worse, killing at least nine residents and wounding about 11, including a five-year-old girl and her father.
According to the report, amateur footage from the bombing site shows multiple impact craters, and buildings that lay in ruins and some still burning in fire caused by the strikes.
Luganskaya is home to nearly 15,000 people and has not been directly involved in the fighting between government forces and the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Lugansk, the report adds.
Meanwhile, Kiev's "Anti-Terrorist Operation" center, which resumed its onslaught on pro-Russia protesters earlier this week, has accused the pro-Russians of unleashing the strikes from the ground to coincide with an aerial patrol.
Ukrainian authorities announced on Wednesday that 279 people have died in the nearby Donetsk region since the start of fighting this spring – 160 of them civilians. The casualty figures for Lugansk, however, have not been revealed.
On Wednesday, Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France negotiated a new ceasefire to be implemented in eastern Ukraine.
MFB/HJL
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