The village of Krasny Liman near Slavyansk in the Donetsk region was heavily shelled by the Ukrainian army during Kiev’s military operation Tuesday. Residents were killed and injured as shells hit a hospital, school and train station, locals told RT.
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There are reports of killed and injured. Local resident Roman told RT on the phone that a mortar shell hit in the center of Krasny Liman and a passerby was killed. A mortar shell also landed near the train station, he said, adding that a train driver was killed, while some of his colleagues were injured.
The local hospital was also heavily shelled, with patients and personnel still inside the building. Local resident Irina told RT on the phone of unconfirmed reports that a surgeon was killed. Irina and Roman said that a local school was also shelled, but there is no official confirmation so far.
There are no official figures of the killed and injured so far.
A video of the damaged hospital was posted on YouTube.
The army has been detaining people, local resident Irina, who was fleeing to Kharkov, told RT on the phone.
Residents told RT that the Ukrainian National Guard is raiding apartments in Krasny Liman looking for self-defense forces. The village is located about 20 kilometers north of Slavyansk and has a population of about 23,000 people.
Witnesses told RIA Novosti that the Ukrainian army scattered leaflets over the city from a helicopter, calling on the self-defense forces to surrender.
“All who lay down their arms and surrender voluntarily are guaranteed life and fair justice," the leaflet reportedly read, adding that that those who don’t would be killed.
The Ukrainian army is carrying out a military operation in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which proclaimed themselves independent from Kiev following referendums in May.
‘Longest fight in the history of the ongoing standoff in eastern Ukraine’
On Tuesday, the National Guard launched a massive artillery
attack on Slavyansk, a city with a population of over 110,000
people, and its suburbs at 6 am local time.
The fighting, which has been ongoing all day is “the longest
fight that has happened during the entire standoff in
Ukraine,” said the press secretary of the People’s Mayor of
Slavyansk, Stella Khorosheva, Itar-Tass reported.
She added that there are no official figures on the killed and
injured, as their number is “constantly increasing.”
Ukrainian Air Force fighter jets fired missiles at the villages
of Semenovka and Cherevkovka near the city on Tuesday, the
People’s Mayor of Slavyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomarev, told
Itar-Tass.
At least five missile strikes were carried out on Semenovka, the
news agency reported, citing self-defense forces.
The Ukrainian troops brought to Slavyansk up to 100 units of
military equipment, including tanks, self-propelled artillery and
Tulpan mortars, self-propelled Gvozdika howitzers and Grad
multiple launch rocket systems, Khorosheva said earlier Tuesday.
The civilian population in Slavyansk is hiding from the constant
shelling in basements.
Over 300 self-defense fighters have been killed over the course of Kiev’s military operation in eastern Ukraine, said the Ukrainian army’s head of the operational group reporting on the military crackdown, Vladimir Seleznev, earlier Tuesday.
On Monday, the Ukrainian Air Force showered the outskirts of the eastern city of Lugansk with dozens of missiles. Kiev said Tuesday that its helicopters and jets “fired more than 150 missiles” on Lugansk and its suburbs. A Ukrainian missile also hit the administration building in the very heart of the city, as confirmed by the OSCE, killing at least eight civilians inside and near the building.
Kiev’s punitive operation of the eastern regions of Donetsk and
Lugansk has been ongoing since April. The military crackdown was
launched following a mass uprising against the coup-appointed
government, as the regions demanded broader independence from
Kiev.
After the presidential elections on May 25, the new
president-elect, chocolate billionaire Petro Poroshenko,
announced that the military operation would continue, demanding:
“It must be more effective, and military units must be better
equipped."
A total of 181 people have been killed, including 59 of the ruling regime’s
troops, and 293 have been injured, said the country’s Prosecutor
General, Oleg Makhnitsky, during a press conference Tuesday. He
added that over 220 people have been abducted, including 12
foreign citizens, since the anti-Kiev uprising started in the
Lugansk and Donetsk regions.