VIENNA, July 21. /ITAR-TASS/. The Ukrainian authorities have denied the government troops shelled the eastern city of Luhansk on July 18-20, during which at least 29 people were killed, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) said in a report on Monday.

“The head of the Ukrainian government’s security operation in Luhansk province on 20 July denied Ukrainian military involvement in the shelling of Luhansk city,” the SMM said.

“The head of the local emergency services department in Luhansk city informed the SMM on 19 July that 20 people had been killed and 150 injured in Luhansk city on 17 and 18 July. The head of the city morgue informed the SMM on 19 July that 29 people had been killed on 18 and 19 July. He said five of the victims were women, and all but one were civilians,” the report said.

On Saturday, July 19, SMM monitors visited the central part of the city “where they observed a large crater beside a bus stop. Shattered windows and shrapnel fragments in the walls of two nearby six-storey buildings were seen, and blood and body parts along the pavement and road. The same day, the SMM observed five houses reduced to rubble on the outskirts of the city. The SMM observed the remains of a rocket of an indeterminable type at the scene.