KRAMATORSK, June 17. /ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian military forces continue a military operation in the south-east of the country, shelling massively and delivering missile and bomb strikes at suburbs in east Ukraine’s Donetsk regional cities of Sloviansk and Horlivka.

Ukrainian military forces are waging a strong heavy gunfire at the settlements of Semyonovka and Cherevkivka near Sloviansk, a representative of people’s militia told ITAR-TASS on Monday evening.

“Such a strong gunfire has not taken place for a long time. Windows in the northern part of the town are shuddering from shell explosions,” he said.

Military forces had waged artillery fire at central Kramatorsk located 10km away from Sloviansk earlier on Tuesday. Ten civilians were killed, and more than ten others were wounded.

 

Situation in Luhansk

Missile and bomb strikes were delivered at Metallist, a suburb in the Luhansk region, which is situated 1km away from the city administrative border. The gunfire lasted for ten minutes, the representative of people’s militia told ITAR-TASS.

“For the first time in the last few days, th sounds of bombing were heard quite distinclty in central Luhansk,” he said. Air alert sirens were turned on in the city.

 

Latest developments in Ukraine's south-east

Militiamen rebuffed a Ukrainian air strike, a fighter Su-25 was presumably downed near the city of Horlivka. The press service of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic could not confirm this information.

The situation in eastern Ukraine keeps deteriorating as Ukrainian army continues shelling residential areas from multiple Grad fire launch systems and tanks and delivering air strikes. Military forces used unguided shells and phosphorous bombs that, according to Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin, “can be qualified as a war crime".