Ukraine’s military repelled a wave of rebel assaults on Donetsk Airport on Saturday, rushing in new troops and ammunition to the battle zone as the government prepares for a visit by neighboring Poland’s prime minister.
Pro-Russia separatists created an “epicenter of tension” as they used artillery, mortars and rifle fire in a bid to pry government troops from their tenuous hold on the strategically important site, authorities in the capital, Kiev, said.
Three Ukrainian servicemen were killed and 18 were wounded in the first 24 hours of the weekend, Ukranian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in Kiev.
Photo: EPA
AIRPORT ASSAULT
“The confrontation is ongoing at Donetsk airport,” Lysenko said. “Militants attacked Ukrainian positions near the new terminal and weather tower. Ukrainian soldiers are repelling the attacks by the terrorists.”
The week-long effort by separatists to take the regional airport rekindles the prospects of all-out war in the former Soviet republic.
More than 4,800 people have died in the nine-month conflict, which has poisoned Russia’s ties with its former Cold War foes. Russia rejects accusations by Ukraine, the US, the EU and NATO that it is meddling in the conflict by sending troops and weapons.
EU SUPPORTER
Polish Prime Minister Ewa Kopacz is to land in Kiev today to meet with Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk, according to the Ukrainian government’s Web site.
Poland has been the most vocal EU supporter of the Ukrainian government that emerged from last year’s street protests that led to the ouster of former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych.
With the cancelation last week of peace talks planned in Minsk, the capital of neighboring Belarus, and Astana in Kazakhstan, fighting has picked up.
Lysenko said military officials recorded a wave of 82 separate attacks by militants earlier in the weekend.
SHELLING
Pro-Russia fighters shelled residential areas near the airport yesterday with artillery and multiple-launch Grad rocket systems after attacks on the airport were turned back, the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council said online. Russian-made
Grads were also used in residential areas in the Luhansk region, it added. Ukrainian government positions and residential areas were attacked 19 times by 2pm on Saturday, it said.
RUSSIAN ACTIONS
Russia is amassing troops and armaments at the border with Ukraine and is testing new weapons in the conflict area, Lysenko said. Ukrainian government soldiers were struggling to evacuate wounded people from the airport as a “fierce fight” resumed on Saturday afternoon, council said on its Web site.
The Ukrainian government ordered roads closed for bus and truck traffic in the Luhansk region while insurgents attacked civilians, Luhansk Regional Governor Hennadiy Moskal said on his Web site.
One civilian was killed and four wounded yesterday after militants shelled the town of Popasna at 3pm, he said.
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