Thirty four people have been killed in fighting between pro-Russian separatists and government troops in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region over the past 24 hours, the local government said on Wednesday.
Heavy fighting was reported from the rebel-held city of Donetsk and its eastern outskirts. City authorities said that artillery battles were raging.
The Interior Ministry in Kiev said earlier that nine soldiers were killed when government troops and the Donbass volunteer battalion took Ilovaisk, an important railway hub east of Donetsk, from pro-Russian separatists.
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However, it was unclear, if the nine soldiers were included in the regional government’s casualty figures.
The city of Luhansk was without mains water and electricity for the eighteenth consecutive day, the city council said.
A Russian convoy with humanitarian aid for Luhansk has been waiting to cross the border into Ukraine for almost a week.
Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council said Wednesday that customs inspections of the almost 280 lorries would not begin before Russia hands over the complete cargo list.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has only handed over a list of international organizations’ representatives that would escort the convoy to Luhansk, council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said in Kiev, according to the Interfax Ukraine news agency.
Lysenko added that the Red Cross had also not yet received security guarantees for the convoy’s transit through rebel-held territory.
Tension in Moscow over Ukrainian flag
Meanwhile, Unknown protesters on Wednesday climbed a landmark Stalin-era skyscraper in Moscow, hoisted a small Ukrainian flag and painted blue over a golden Soviet star to make it appear in the Ukrainian national colours.
The early morning operation at the 176-metre Kotelnicheskaya Embankment building was widely reported on television and caused a stir in the Russian capital, where public opinion has turned strongly against Ukraine over the conflict in the country’s east.
Workers pulled down the flag after three hours, and started restoring the star’s original colour, Russian news agencies reported.
Four suspects with climbing gear were taken to a police station for questioning.
The two men and two women denied hoisting the flag or painting the star, the Itar—Tass news agency reported, citing a police source.
They could be accused of vandalism, the report said. Under Russian law, vandalism carries up to three years in prison.
The Kotelnicheskaya Embankment building is part of a series of Moscow high-rise buildings widely seen as prime examples of Stalinist architecture. They are sometimes referred to as the “Seven Sisters”.