Ukraine airstrike kills civilians, say rescue workers

Rescue workers say an airstrike has demolished an apartment block in eastern Ukraine, killing at least nine civilians.

Government officials denied the Tuesday strike was carried out by Ukraine’s air force. Rescue workers in Snizhne, a town held by separatist rebels, said they have retrieved nine bodies.

Residents of the apartment block sifted through the rubble for their belongings after the attack.

That tally adds to the steadily growing number of civilians killed over four months of fighting, as government troops seek to quell a dogged pro-Russian insurgency. No reliable official recent death toll has been produced, but many hundreds of civilians are known to have been killed to date.