East Ukraine town comes under fire by pro-Russian rebels
A town in east Ukraine has come under shellfire by pro-Russian rebels amid fears they are launching a counter-offensive on government-held parts of the region.
In response to outgoing fire early today, rebel forces lobbed at least 10 shells at the government-held town of Novoazovsk. Plumes of black smoke rose above the town, which was hit repeatedly shelled yesterday.
The renewed fighting came a day after the Russian and Ukrainian leaders met in Minsk, Belarus, to discuss the escalating crisis in east Ukraine.
Despite a one-on-one session between Vladimir Putin and Petro Poroshenko that lasted over two hours, there was no indication of a swift resolution to the fighting that has dragged on since April and claimed at least 2,000 civilian lives.
After the talks, Ukraine’s president said his Russian counterpart had accepted the principles of a peace plan for the region. The Russian leader, however, insisted that only Kiev could secure a ceasefire deal with the pro-Moscow separatists.
“This is not our business,” Mr Putin said of any ceasefire plan. “This is Ukraine’s business.”
Novoazovsk lies on the Azov Sea on the road that runs from Russia to the major Ukrainian port of Mariupol and west to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia earlier this year.
The latest shelling has raised fears that the separatists are aiming to take control of a strip of land that would link Russia to Crimea.
