Reporters on the ground in the protester-held city of Slovyansk say that at least three civilians were killed and more wounded today when a mortar attack strayed into a residential neighborhood, landing near an apartment block.
The apartment block was not directly hit, but the impact shattered windows, and many people were cut with flying glass. A second shell hit near a local college, with similar results.
Slovyansk and its neighboring city of Kramatorsk have been a primary target of the Ukrainian military, as the first major cities in the northwest of Donetsk Oblast. Gunbattles were reported in several villages near the area today as well.
Some reports suggested that the Ukrainian military’s shelling was retaliation for mortar strikes by a militia loyal to the secessionist People’s Republic of Donetsk, though reporters said that at this point it is unclear who fired first, and both maintain their fire was retaliatory.
