Deadly clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels threatened civilians in central Donetsk on Monday, with shelling hitting a hospital and warnings of insurgents launching attacks from residential areas.
Ukraine also made fresh accusations of Moscow backing the separatists, alleging that hundreds of Russian troops along with heavy weaponry crossed the border to join the fight.
In the eastern city of Kharkiv, which has been generally spared fighting, but where tensions are high between backers of Kiev and the pro-Russian separatists, 12 people were wounded in an explosion near a court where a pro-Western militant was being tried.
In Brussels on Monday, EU foreign ministers agreed there would be no change in the bloc’s Russia policy, nor letup in its sanctions.
EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini warned the situation in the former Soviet republic was “much worse than in last weeks.”
After a pause in the fighting early on Monday as people celebrated Orthodox Epiphany, clashes reignited in the afternoon, with regular explosions heard coming from the direction of Donetsk’s flashpoint airport.
The upsurge in violence in recent days has left a truce negotiated in September last year in tatters, with heavy combat shaking the area at the weekend after Ukraine launched a major counteroffensive to push out the rebels.
The hospital hit on Monday is in the center of Donetsk and rebel officials who control the area reported six wounded, including one doctor and five patients. The front of the building was damaged and windows were blown out.
A university across from the hospital was also hit and there was speculation in the neighborhood over whether the intended target was the nearby separatist security ministry.
Larissa Polyakova, who was nearby, said students were lucky not to have been being hit.
“Shells fell on the window,” Polyakova said. “Miraculously, the students had left the room 15 minutes before. Can you imagine what would have happened if they were still inside?”
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