Ukraine Fighting Claims Red Cross Worker as Airport Battle Rages
Ukrainian troops repelled attacks on Donetsk airport, killing 10 rebels and destroying two tanks, after a Swiss Red Cross workers death by shelling in a nearby residential area further frayed a month-old truce.
The adversaries blamed each other for the bombardment that destroyed a Red Cross office on Universitetskaya Street about 3 kilometers (2 miles) from the airport in Donetsk, the biggest city in the conflict area where the Ukrainian military said many insurgents were killed yesterday. The International Committee of the Red Cross identified the worker in a statement today as 38-year-old Laurent DuPasquier.
The indiscriminate shelling of residential areas is unacceptable and violates international humanitarian law, ICRC Director of Operations Dominik Stillhart said in the e-mailed statement.
Standoff in Ukraine
Ukrainian forces rotated troops and weapons at the airport, where they faced overnight attacks in at least six locations, the military press center, which also detailed the rebel losses, said on Facebook. Militants shelled Donetsk using multiple rocket launchers and tried to storm a roadblock near Popasna, it said.
The pro-Russian separatists, who do not usually provide details on casualties, have partial control of the airport, Russian news service RIA Novosti reported, citing Georgiy Morozov, a Defense Ministry representative from the self-proclaimed Donetsk Peoples Republic.
A Ukrainian soldier looks on at a camp base near Debaltseve, Ukraine, on Sept. 29, 2014. Close
A Ukrainian soldier looks on at a camp base near Debaltseve, Ukraine, on Sept. 29, 2014.
Close
A Ukrainian soldier looks on at a camp base near Debaltseve, Ukraine, on Sept. 29, 2014.
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Ukraine Fighting Claims Red Cross Worker as Airport Battle Rages