A convoy of 14 tanks and armored vehicles rumbled through Makiivka, in eastern Ukraine, on September 28, flying the flag of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic." Neither they nor the troops on them bore any other markings or insignia. Western governments accuse Russia of deploying forces in the region, which Russia denies. (Video by Reuters)
This just in from Reuters:
Seven Ukrainian soldiers were killed late on Sunday when a separatist shell hit their armored personnel carrier near the main airport at Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, a military spokesman said on Monday.
It was the largest single number of Ukrainian soldiers killed since a fragile cease-fire came into force on September 5.
From the Associated Press on the overnight violence:
Authorities say the eastern Ukraine rebel stronghold of Donetsk has been hit by the worst shelling in more than a week, killing three people and wounding five overnight.
In a statement published online Monday, the Donetsk City Council said that more than a dozen buildings in the north of the city were damaged by the shelling. Residential areas have been caught up in fighting centered on the government-held airport.
The ongoing violence imperils a shaky cease-fire imposed in the region on September 5. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has been at pains to insist that his peace plan is working, to a skeptical audience at home.
Edited footage taken by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service of the spectacular toppling of that huge Lenin statue in Kharkiv last night:
From RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
Veteran Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev says that authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea have transferred his arrested son from the peninsula to Russia's Krasnodar region.
Dzhemilev said in an interview with Ukraine's Kanal 24 television channel on September 29 that the Kremlin is holding his son, Khaiser Dzhemilev, hostage to put pressure on him.
Khaiser Dzhemilev was arrested in May 2013 after allegedly shooting a friend dead.
Crimea's authorities reopened the investigation after Russia annexed Crimea in March. They said in June that Khaiser Dzhemilev is being held on three charges under the Russian Criminal Code, including murder and the illegal possession of weapons.
In May, Moscow-backed authorities of Crimea barred Mustafa Dzhemilev, who has strongly protested the annexation, from entering the peninsula.
Just in from Interfax, confirming the AFP report:
Three civilians were killed and another five sustained various injuries in Donetsk last Sunday, the city council said on Monday.
Also, multiple shell strikes on residential and administrative buildings, including that of the Kyivsky District Council, have been registered in the Kuibyshevsky and Kyivsky Districts over the past 24
hours.
Direct projectile hits and shrapnel caused massive damage to gas-distribution equipment and pipelines.
As of 10 a.m. on Monday the situation in the city has been extremely tense. The sounds of occasional shots from heavy weaponry and series of volleys are audible in many districts.
Just in from the French news agency AFP:
Three civilians killed in Ukraine's rebel-held Donetsk: city hall