LUGANSK, July 6 /ITAR-TASS/. Pro-Kiev’s military opened artillery fire on residential buildings in east Ukraine’s Lugansk, the militia of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic said on Sunday.
The fire was presumably conducted from Grad multiple launch rocket systems, the militia said.
“Several buildings are burning in the city; there are wounded persons and a lot of ambulances in the streets. Eye-witnesses say the strike was delivered against the Accumulator Plant near the bus terminal,” the local self-defense militia said.
“The residents are hurriedly going into air-raid shelters or leaving the shelling area.”
Local residents also reported about several powerful explosions near the Lugansk airport.
The Ukrainian military are also shelling the city’s Krasnodon, Sverdlovka districts and the Izvarino checkpoint, the press office of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic said.
Kiev’s military and self-defense militia exchanged mortar fire last night near the Lugansk airport controlled by the Ukrainian law-enforcers.
Combat operations are also continuing near the settlements of Mettalist and Krasny Yar, as well as near the Izvarino checkpoint which is controlled by the local self-defense militia, the press office said.
A signature-collecting point has been opened in the center of Lugansk to sign an appeal to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with a demand to stop Kiev’s aggression against civilians.
Health Minister of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic Viktor Avakyan said on Saturday that at least 80 people, including 56 civilians and 24 self-defense fighters, had been taken to Lugansk hospitals as a result of bombings and shelling by the Ukrainian military.
Kiev’s operation against federalization supporters in Ukraine's embattled Donetsk and Lugansk regions bordering Russia, 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.