Meanwhile the separatists stepped back from their earlier talk of a possible cease-fire and said the Ukrainian army first had to end military action.
Government forces on Sunday tightened the circle around the rebels' main redoubt, the big industrial city of Donetsk. Residents there reported heavy shelling from early in the morning.
A senior leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic had said on Saturday that the rebels were ready for a truce with government forces to allow humanitarian aid to be brought in.
Replying to a journalist's question on Sunday, military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said: "If there is this initiative, it should be carried out by practical means and not by words - by raising white flags and by putting down guns."
"We have not seen these practical steps yet," he said.
In a statement released later the rebels said they remained ready for a temporary truce to head off "a humanitarian catastrophe." But they added defiantly, "As long as the Ukrainian army is continuing military action there can be no cease-fire."
In a round of telephone calls late Saturday, US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron agreed that any unilateral move by Russia into Ukrainian territory would be seen as "illegal" and "unacceptable." Russia on Saturday denied an allegation by Kiev that it had tried to send in a convoy disguised as an aid mission.
Sources:Reuters - globaltimes.cn
10-11/8/14
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About 15 Ukrainian shells exploded in Russia’s southern Rostov region some 500 metres of the border with Ukraine, Rostov region border chief Vasily Malayev told Itar-Tass on Sunday....
ReplyDelete“Russian border guards on Sunday registered about 15 shell explosions near the village of Mityakinskaya. The shells flew from Ukraine and dropped some 300 metres of a populated locality,” he said, adding that luckily no one had been hurt.
A larger part of Donetsk’s Tekstilshchiki dwelling quarters has been left without electricity supplies as a result of artillery shelling, the official website of the Donetsk mayor said on Sunday.
“As at 17:30 local time (18:30 Moscow time) 40 substations were cut off electricity supplies as a result of artillery shelling. The situation is difficult, people say they hear the sounds of shooting from heavy weapons in all districts of the city,” the website said.
Apart from that, a shell that hit Donetsk’s bus park destroyed and damaged several buses.
http://en.itar-tass.com/world/744335
10/8/14