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Ukraine crisis: Donetsk shelling dashes ceasefire hopes | |
(about 9 hours later) | |
The Ukrainian military says pro-Russian rebels have attacked its forces again at Donetsk airport despite a ceasefire deal earlier in the day. | |
The statement on Facebook said rebel shelling shattered the calm soon after both sides had ended their meeting. | |
Earlier the rebels reported a truce at the bitterly contested airport. And a ceasefire was agreed in nearby Luhansk region, European observers said. | |
Fighting has raged at the airport for three days. The rebels hold the city. | |
Ukraine says Russian special forces were involved in the latest Donetsk fighting, helping the separatists, who control a large swathe of eastern Ukraine. | |
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied Ukrainian and Western accusations that it has sent tanks and troops to the war-torn region to help the rebels. | |
"There was a lull at Donetsk airport during the day," the Ukrainian military statement said, but after the ceasefire talks "the terrorists resumed attacks on the [airport] terminals". | |
The statement was echoed by Russia's Interfax news agency, which reported explosions on the northern outskirts of Donetsk on Tuesday evening. | |
A ceasefire deal agreed on 5 September has been violated repeatedly. | |
A Russian general attended the Luhansk talks, chaired by OSCE observers. | A Russian general attended the Luhansk talks, chaired by OSCE observers. |
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has a monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has raged since the rebels seized official buildings in April. | The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe has a monitoring mission in eastern Ukraine, where fighting has raged since the rebels seized official buildings in April. |
Under the new deal for Luhansk, the sides agreed to a ceasefire starting on Friday. A withdrawal of heavy weapons from the line of confrontation was agreed for Saturday, 6 December. But it is not yet clear how wide the demilitarised zone will be. | |
There are some doubts about whether Cossack volunteer units operating on the rebel side will respect the ceasefire terms, Associated Press news agency reports. | |
But the OSCE statement said the Luhansk rebel negotiators "insisted that they were in control of all Cossack units and that these units, too, would adhere to this [ceasefire] proposal". | But the OSCE statement said the Luhansk rebel negotiators "insisted that they were in control of all Cossack units and that these units, too, would adhere to this [ceasefire] proposal". |