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Developments in eastern Ukraine

Thirteen dead, twenty wounded as shell hits tram stop in Donetsk — medics

Earlier on Thursday, a defense ministry spokesman of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people’s republic said at least nine people died and another nine people were injured

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© Nikolay Muravyov/TASS

© Nikolay Muravyov/TASS

© Nikolay Muravyov/TASS

© Nikolay Muravyov/TASS

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DONETSK, January 22. /TASS/. Thirteen people were killed and 20 others were wounded early on Thursday when a mortar shell hit a tram stop in Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, local doctors told the official Donetsk news agency.

Earlier on Thursday, a defense ministry spokesman of the self-proclaimed Donetsk people’s republic, Eduard Basurin, said at least nine people died and another nine people were injured.

Doctors said most of those injured in the attack are in a critical condition. More people who happened to have been at the accident scene are seeking medical assistance.

The shelling occurred at around 8.30 a.m. local time (0530 GMT). Preliminary reports said the mortars were launched from a minibus. As a result, a trolleybus and a car caught fire.

The shelling comes shortly after the foreign ministers Russia, Germany, Ukraine and France discussed steps in Berlin on Wednesday to reach progress in resolving the Ukrainian crisis.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Yuri Biryukov said Sunday that the Ukrainian military had received orders to open massive fire on the positions of the militias in the military operation zone in the country’s south-east.

Kiev has de facto violated the “silence regime” which was introduced in Donbass on December 9. DPR’s leader Alexander Zakharchenko earlier said the republic was hit by all types of weaponry at Kiev’s disposal.

In November-December, President Petro Poroshenko sent to the Ukrainian military a significant amount of weaponry, including heavy artillery systems. Shortly before the conflict escalation, Ukraine’s parliament adopted a law on three mobilization waves in 2015.

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The aftermath of shelling in Donetsk

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Donetsk Eastern Ukraine

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