At Least 30 Killed as Missiles Hit East Ukraine Port City

Rebels Deny Firing Missiles in Area Around Mariupol

At least 30 people were killed and 97 others wounded on Saturday when missiles hit a residential district in the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, adding to the rising death toll after the ceasefire collapsed last week.

Eastern Ukrainian rebels confirmed they are in the process of launching an offensive against government-held Mariupol, with an eye toward expelling the military from the Donetsk Oblast. They deny firing any rockets, however.

The Ukrainian military, ever looking to escalate things internationally, claimed the attack was a “crime against humanity committed by the Russian military.” As usual they offered no evidence for this assessment.

Such a situation is all-too-common on both sides on the ongoing East Ukrainian war, as massive civilian casualties in the war are regularly denied by each side, even when usually only one or the other would’ve plausibly been attacking the area.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.