Russia Warns Ukraine After Cross-Border Shelling Kills Civilian

In an apparent misfire, a Ukrainian military shelling strayed across the border into Russia’s Rostov region, destroying a house and killing one civilian within, wounding two others. Russia summoned the Ukrainian charges d’affaires over the matter, cautioning against “irreversible consequences” from such attacks.

Ukraine denied the incident, and claimed that “mercenaries” were trying to cross the border in from Russia to Luhansk, and that they destroyed large numbers of vehicles at the border.

Russia’s Foreign Ministry is pushing Ukraine to apologize for the incident, though some high-ranking MPs were calling for Russia to immediately launch a retaliatory strike against the Ukrainian artillery forces in the border region.

Fighting continues in eastern Ukraine between the military and ethnic-Russian rebels, with Ukrainian tanks attempting to storm the city of Luhansk today, though apparently unsuccessfully.

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.