Ukraine’s military and pro-Moscow rebels have accused each other of killing dozens of civilians fleeing fighting in the east of the country as intense clashes continued after the latest round of international crisis talks achieved little.
“At about 9.40am as refugees were being taken from Khryashchevatoye and Novosvetlovka, the militants hit the convoy with massive fire from mortar and ‘Grad’ artillery,” Ukrainian military spokesman Anatoly Proshin said yesterday. The refugees, including women and children, were travelling in military trucks carrying “white flags and other indicators that civilians were on board,” he added, without producing evidence of the attack.
“People burned right there in the vehicles in which they were travelling. People simply didn’t have time to get out,” Mr Proshin said.
Another military spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, claimed "the militants waited for the convoy and completely bombed it . . . The convoy was almost totally destroyed."
He said “dozens” had been killed in the “bloody crime” and that the exact number of casualties was yet to be established.
Denial
The rebels – who want eastern Ukraine to join Russia and are believed by Kiev and its western allies to rely on fighters and advanced weapons sent by Moscow – denied shelling the convoy.
Andrei Purgin, deputy prime minister of the insurgents’ self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” (DNR), said rebel forces did not have Grad multiple rocket launchers in locations that could strike the area where the convoy was hit.
“The Ukrainians themselves have bombed the road constantly with airplanes and Grads,” he said.
“It seems they’ve now killed more civilians like they’ve been doing for months now. We don’t have the ability to send Grads into that territory.”
The militants also reject Ukrainian government and US claims that they shot down a Malaysia Airlines jet last month. All 298 people on board died when it disintegrated over rebel-held territory, apparently after being hit by a missile.
Ukraine’s military and paramilitary units have taken control of swathes of former rebel- held territory in recent weeks, and several insurgency leaders have stepped down, including Russians who had played a major role in the revolt.
The DNR's new prime minister, Alexander Zakharchenko, claimed in recent days he was poised to receive reinforcements comprising 150 armoured vehicles and 1,200 men "who received four months of military training on the territory of the Russian Federation." Moscow denies providing such assistance.
Concentration
The rebels are now concentrated in the two largest cities under their control, Donetsk and Luhansk. Both are enduring frequent artillery strikes and problems with power, water and food supply, with Luhansk the worst affected.
The United Nations says more than 2,000 people have been killed in the fighting and hundreds of thousands have fled an insurgency that erupted after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March.
Moscow has sent almost 300 military trucks carrying aid to the border near Luhansk, where they await Ukraine’s clearance to cross and agreement from the Red Cross that it is willing to distribute the cargo.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said talks in Berlin on Sunday with his Ukrainian, French and German counterparts had resolved questions surrounding the convoy, but none of the trucks had last night crossed the border into Ukraine.
The Red Cross is still waiting for security guarantees from all sides.
Kiev and western capitals fear the convoy could be used by Russia to take supplies to the rebels or could be caught in an attack – real or staged – which would give the Kremlin a pretext for sending its military into Ukraine.
“One place where we cannot report positive results is in ... establishing a ceasefire and [starting] a political process,” Mr Lavrov said following the talks.
