DONETSK, April 5. /TASS/. A fire and heavy smoke have been spotted on the Turkish ship The Azburg, flying the Dominican flag, near Mariupol, which may be a provocation by Ukrainian nationalists who still control the port, the Donetsk people’s militia spokesman Eduard Basurin said on Tuesday.

"The Ukrainian nationalists still holding the port of Mariupol, well aware of their imminent defeat, have been purposefully eliminating infrastructures and the foreign ships there. At the moment we know there is a fire and heavy smoke on the Turkish ship The Azburg, flying the Dominican flag. There are twelve Ukrainian citizens on board," Basurin said in an urgent statement uploaded to the Donetsk militia’s Telegram channel.

Basurin suspects a provocation by Ukrainian forces. "We do not rule out that the Ukrainian center of information-psychological operations have started destroying foreign ships together with their crews with the aim of putting the blame on artillery strikes by Russian forces," Basurin said.

He stressed that both the Russian army and Donetsk militia were conducting only surgical strikes against the Ukrainian forces’ fire emplacements.

"I feel obliged to point out that the Kiev authorities ignore the official requests for the evacuation of six foreign ships and their crews, which the Ukrainian nationalists have intentionally blocked by mining the port’s water area before the beginning of the miliary operation," Basurin stated.

On Monday, he said that the DPR forces had gained control of the center of Mariupol. Ukrainian forces are sealed off in the industrial zone and the seaport.