LUHANSK, July 07. /ITAR-TASS/. Heavy artillery fire once again rocked on Monday the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk, where several people were killed and several buildings damaged, a source from people’s militia of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic told ITAR-TASS, saying Grad multiple rocket launcher systems were used.
Fire was opened on the city at about 4 pm Moscow time. Video footage by eyewitnesses in the suburbs showed salvo fire of at least 30 missiles fired towards Luhansk, they said. “It is believed Ukrainian military were targeting the building of an air force academy, which is currently housing a military unit of people’s’ militia,” the source said. Reports said one of the shells had hit a vehicle, killing several people inside.
It was also reported that simultaneously the military unit had been pounded from the airport of Luhansk, still under the control of Ukraine’s National Guard. “Within an hour after the shelling began, militia opened return fire from mortars, after which the artillery shelling of Luhansk stopped,” people’s militia sources said.
Since mid-April, Kiev has been conducting a military operation against federalization supporters. The operation in Ukraine's embattled south-eastern regions, which involves armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation, has already resulted in hundreds of deaths, destroyed buildings and forced tens of thousands of people to cross the border from Ukraine to Russia. After a brief ceasefire announced by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on June 20 and terminated by him on June 30, military attacks of the pro-Kiev forces on the country’s south-eastern regions resumed.