At least 16 killed in Donetsk after Ukraine attack: Separatists

Fragments from a Ukrainian missile that was shot down fall in rebel-held metropolis centre, killing civilians, separatists say.

Service members of pro-Russian troops seen in a truck within the separatist-controlled area of Donetsk [File: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters]

No less than 16 individuals have been killed and 23 wounded by fragments of a downed Ukrainian missile within the metropolis of Donetsk, based on Russian-backed separatists in jap Ukraine.

The Tochka-U missile was intercepted over the insurgent stronghold on Monday however elements of it landed within the metropolis centre, Russia’s TASS information company cited native separatist chief Denis Pushilin as saying.

Pushilin, the top of the so-called Donetsk Folks’s Republic, stated residential areas had been broken.

“Folks had been ready in line close to an ATM and had been standing at a bus cease,” he instructed the Rossiya 24 community.

“There are kids among the many lifeless,” Pushilin added, telling the community the casualty depend would have been increased had the missile not been downed.

The dying toll or the incident couldn't be independently verified within the territory that has been managed by pro-Russia rebels since 2014. There was no speedy remark by Ukrainian authorities.

(Al Jazeera)

Experiences of the assault got here as Ukrainian and Russian negotiators had been scheduled to meet for a fourth spherical of talks since Russia invaded its neighbouring nation on February 24.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has stated the target of his conflict in Ukraine, which he has dubbed a “particular navy operation”, is the “demilitarisation and denazification” of the Ukrainian authorities.

He claims Kyiv has been finishing up a “genocide” towards the Russian-speaking inhabitants of the Donetsk and Luhansk areas, collectively referred to as the Donbas, the place the Ukrainian military has been combating Russia-backed separatists since 2014. Ukraine denies the allegation.

The battle that erupted after the rebels seized elements of the Donbas and self-declared the Donetsk and Luhansk Folks’s Republics has killed greater than 14,000 individuals, together with troopers, civilians and insurgent fighters.