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Unknown armed people open fire at civilians in Ukraine's Mariupol

Co-chairman of the government of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin says hostilities have resumed in Mariupol

© EPA/MAXIM SHIPENKOV/Archive

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Ukrainian law enforcers storm Mariupol City Council

DONETSK, May 09. /ITAR-TASS/. Hostilities have resumed in the streets of the Ukrainian city of Mariupol in the Donetsk Oblast, co-chairman of the government of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin told ITAR-TASS.

Pushilin said unidentified groups of gunmen, presumably National Guards, opened fire on civilians inside the city, adding there were no immediate reports of casualties.

Russia Today editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan wrote on her Twitter microblog that one of the channel's reporters was wounded in Mariupol. "Our reporter was wounded while filming in Mariupol. Wound to the abdomen, though he wore a bulletproof vest, as doctors say. He is in hospital now," Simonyan wrote.

Situation in Donetsk

Pushilin described the situation in the central city of Donetsk as calm.

“Victory Day celebrations are in progress. Flowers were laid at the Great Patriotic War victims memorial. At the moment a gala concert and rally are in progress. World War II veterans are attending the event,” he said.

Ukrainian forces involved in the Kiev authorities’ punitive operation in the east of the country stormed the building of the city council in Mariupol on May 8. To protect themselves, people’s militia members set fire to barricades made of automobile tyres.

The city council building in Mariupol changed hands several times over the past two days. The Ukrainian crack unit Omega stormed the building late in the evening on May 7 using an unknown gas.

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Ukraine crisis Donetsk Eastern Ukraine

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