70,000 civilians leave Donetsk in a weekend

The fear of a coming Ukrainian Army offensive is causing a real exodus in Donetsk, a stronghold of the pro-Russian rebels, whose inhabitants leave the city by thousands. This flight coincides with the worst fighting that has caused 30 deaths among the Ukrainian rows in the past 48 hours, 19 in a mortar attack made on Friday by the rebels in the Lugansk region, one of the bloodiest since the beginning of three months of the conflict. According to the prime minister of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk, Alexander Borodai, more than 70,000 people – a total of 90000, have abandoned the separatist capital turned into a ghost town, as far this weekend.

Just after Friday’s episode, Marinka, an eastern suburb of the city suffered a heavy missile attack at night and early yesterday morning to have killed at least 30 civilians dead, according to the rebel forces, although this information has not been verified, the BBC reports. Reuters claimed that the missiles have reached residential areas and factories and municipal sources warned that public transport had stopped working.

The Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, vowed to avenge every dead in their ranks ” with the lives of tens and even hundreds of rebels ” after Friday’s attack, while not throwing reassuring messages to the people in areas controlled by the pro-Russian.

Porosenkho received in Kiev mayor of Donetsk, Aleksandr Lukianchenko, with which “examined the measures that will avoid bloodshed and resort to aviation and the use of heavy artillery for no casualties or destruction of critical infrastructure.”

Ukrainian troops surrounding the village, are now only 20 miles, and despite Porosenko messages, the inhabitants of Donetsk not seem to believe in the word of Kiev and are leaving their homes, taking advantage of the rail system, the safest, it still works.

Last Friday, all trains were full, according to the company employees. Calmly and without scenes of nerves, despite the long lines, residents undertook the way to Russia, if they were rebel sympathizers, but many were also directed to Kiev or other destinations in southern Ukraine.

Although there were no big moves yesterday on field but there were continuing clashes between the two sides and Ukrainian fighters attacked rebel positions early in the morning, after they return to launch missiles against government forces on the border with Russia. At least two soldiers were killed and 20 wounded in a rocket and mortar shelling of the rebel forces against two military posts in Ukrainian and Nyzhzoderevechka Dyakove near Luganks.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=46321

Posted by Khalil Khan on Jul 14 2014. Filed under Europe. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.