2014-07-16 09:12:00

Air strike destroys apartment block in Ukraine


(Vatican Radio) Rescue officials say an air strike has demolished an entire apartment block in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 11 people. Tuesday's bombardment came after Kyiv accused Moscow of involvement in shooting down a Ukrainian military transport plane amid ongoing fighting between government forces and pro-Russian separatists.

Stefan Bos reports: 

Men could be seen desperately sifting through rubble of shattered homes in the rebel-held town of Shizhne in the Donetsk region, shortly after the a war plane attack. Among those searching for survivors, and personal belongings, are gunmen in camouflage gear and local residents. 

Rebels blamed Ukraine's army for the air strike, but Kyiv denied wrongdoing saying the strike was carried out by an unknown aircraft "with the aim to discredit Ukrainian government forces".

No Ukrainian military planes reportedly flew in the area after a transport aircraft was shot down Monday near the country's eastern border with Russia.

Rebel forces claimed they captured the eight people on board and questioned them, but Ukrainian officials said a search-and-rescue operation was underway to find them.  

FIRED FROM RUSSIA?

Kyiv claims the missile that downed the plane was a powerful one and probably fired from Russia.

“It has become clear that the plane was shot down at the height of 6,500 meters," said Ukrainian national security and defence spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

"Mobile rocket launchers, which are used by rebels now, cannot shoot the plane down at this height, which means the AN-26 was shot down by another more powerful weapon which was used probably from the territory of the Russian Federation,” he added.

Yet, some analysts have questioned that assessment, saying the plane may have flown at lower altitudeand could have been hit by pro-Russian separatists.

The confusion came while the NATO military alliance claimed Russia had increased its troops near Ukraine's border to as many as 12,000 after reducing them to less than 1,000 in June.

INCREASING ARMY TENSIONS

Tensions have increased as Ukraine's army is approaching the key city of Donetsk, impacting the most vulnerable people.

Rebels want to move some 130 orphans living at Donetsk Orphanage No. 1 to Russia saying they are safer there.

Ukraine seeks to move them to facilities in government-held territory, at least until the fighting dies down.

And the children? Several said they want to stay where they are, and want to live in peace.

"Normal people would ask our opinion," the 16-year-old Tamara Popova said, as other orphans nodded in agreement. "We told them that this was against the law, that we have brothers and sisters here. But then [the rebels] started to swear."








All the contents on this site are copyrighted ©.