At least five civilians were killed and another 12 wounded today in Donetsk as the Ukrainian military shelled the major rebel city, and launched a full-scale offensive against the area around the train station.
The attack damaged an electricity substation, further disputing the city’s hit-or-miss energy supply, while the transportation network was disrupted, though city officials said it would soon be restored.
Donetsk is the largest city in the rebel-held east of the country, and has been regularly targeted by the Ukrainian military, which has been ordered to cleanse the region of “parasites.”
President Petro Poroshenko has ordered the military to continue its offensive, but has ordered them not to attack the rebels near the MH17 plane crash site, apparently hoping to keep the pretense of violent rebels against a peaceful government alive, at least in the immediate vicinity of the international press.
