Ukraine: Metro supermarket in RUINS amid continued shelling of Donetsk
A Metro supermarket branch located nearby Donetsk International Airport was left in ruins on Sunday. Ongoing fighting between anti-Kiev and pro-Kiev fighters is also audible in the footage....
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Ukraine: Metro supermarket in RUINS amid continued shelling of Donetsk - Video
Published January 19, 2015
Jan.15, 2015: Smoke rises over the new terminal of Donetsk airport. (AP)
DONETSK, Ukraine Russian-backed rebels and Ukrainian government troops fought pitched battles Monday for control of Donetsk airport, while residential areas nearby were caught in intensive crossfire.
The airport, reduced to a hulking wreck by months of heavy fighting, has been the epicenter of hostilities due to its symbolic importance and strategic location on the edge of the main rebel-controlled city.
The airport has become a symbol of Ukrainian combat valor and its loss would be a major blow to national pride.
The rebels say they have fully seized the airport in recent fighting, but Ukrainian officials reject the claim. They say Ukrainian troops are still holding out in the wreckage of the new terminal, a steel-and-glass showcase for the UEFA Euro 2012 soccer championship hosted by Ukraine.
Three Ukrainian servicemen were killed and 66 wounded in the previous 24 hours, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters, but he would not say how many of those casualties occurred at the airport.
On Monday, the rebels blew up part of the new terminal, wounding many Ukrainian troops with debris, Yuriy Biryukov, an adviser to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, wrote on his Facebook account. He said some wounded soldiers were evacuated from the airport but did not say how many troops remained.
It was impossible independently to determine whose forces were currently in control of various sections of the airport.
In the long term, the government fears the separatists could use the airport to expand their control over eastern Ukraine, bypassing border controls and creating an air supply route with Russia.
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Ukraine rebels claim they control Donetsk airport after heavy fighting
DONETSK, Ukraine, Jan. 19 (UPI) -- The battle for the strategic airport in Donetsk, Ukraine, has escalated between the Ukrainian government and Russian-backed rebel forces.
A Ukrainian military spokesman said the airport was under government control on Sunday, but rebel military command launched a counteroffensive at a strategic bridge, which was destroyed in the fighting.
Ukraine has accused Russia of sending two battalions of soldiers as the battle continues.
All-out warfare could begin as both sides ignore a ceasefire established in September.
Rebel officials said at least eight soldiers were killed and 33 were injured since Sunday. Ukraine defense officials said three of its soldiers died and 66 were injured within a day.
The acquisition of the airport is mainly symbolic because, after months of fighting, the airport is no longer functional.
The military troops fighting the rebels "demonstrated their courage, patriotism, heroism, as a model for how our country must be defended," according to Ukranian President Petro Poroshenko.
"We will not give away one scrap of Ukrainian land," Poroshenko said to a crowd gathered in Kiev to pay tribute after a civilian bus was hit by a shell, killing 13.
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Ukraine continues battling for control of airport against rebel forces
DONETSK, Ukraine: Sporadic shelling hit a hospital in Donetsk and shook other parts of the region on Monday (Jan 19) while Ukraine alleged that hundreds of Russian troops crossed the border to help rebels fighting for control of the country's east.
Ukraine's fresh charges of Russia backing the rebels comes after each side blamed the other for a complete breakdown of a September truce in recent days, with heavy combat having rocked the area around Donetsk airport.
Despite the sporadic explosions on Monday, the overall violence was far less than in previous days, when heavy clashes rocked the area around the airport northwest of the city after Ukraine launched a major counter-offensive to push back the rebels.
The hospital hit on Monday is located in the centre of the city, and rebel officials who control the area reported six wounded including one doctor and five patients. The building's front was damaged and windows were blown out. A university across from the hospital was also hit.
"I walked out of a store and took two steps, then I heard 'boom! boom! boom!'" said 35-year-old Denis Rybkine. "By reflex, I lay down on the ground, and I saw red bricks (from the hospital) fly and windows explode."
Larissa Polyakova said students at the university barely missed being hit. "Shells fell on the window," she said. "Miraculously, the students had left the room 15 minutes before. Can you imagine what would have happened if they were still inside?"
Elsewhere, in Debaltseve some 60 kilometres north of Donetsk, artillery fire killed three people on Monday and wounded 12. Ukraine's military reported at least three soldiers killed over the last 24 hours and another 66 wounded, but claimed to be in control of the airport.
"We are not giving them the airport," said military spokesman Andriy Lysenko. "It is under our control." Rebels have disputed Kiev's account and there was no independent confirmation, with journalists unable to approach the site.
The blackened and wrecked airport has been hit by repeated on-off clashes, and control has often been divided between a new and old terminal and other installations.
An army spokesman told AFP that the counter-offensive had accomplished its goal. "It's much more calm today," said Vladislav Selezyov. "Our soldiers had a concise task: Push back the rebels who were attacking us. The 93rd airport brigade accomplished it. The separatists can no longer fire on our positions at close range."
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Ukraine claims 700 Russian troops cross border
Ukraine War ~ Unbelievable apocalyptic aerial view of destruction at Donetsk airport
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Ukraine War ~ Unbelievable apocalyptic aerial view of destruction at Donetsk airport - Video