Cease-fire over, Ukraine renews attacks on rebels
7/1/2014KIEV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officials say they have renewed a military offensive against armed pro-Russia separatists after the country’s president called off a unilateral cease-fire.
The Defense Ministry said Ukrainian forces “carried out strikes from the air and on land” today against separatist positions in eastern Ukraine.
Military spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkovsky said forces “opened artillery fire, carried out air strikes at the strategic points of the terrorists and places where they are concentrated,” the Interfax news agency reported.
Dmytrashkovsky said one service member was killed and 17 wounded over the past 24 hours in rebel attacks and an Su-25 attack aircraft was damaged.
Gunfire has broken out in the center of a major city in eastern Ukraine as gunmen appear to be trying to take control of the regional police headquarters.
The shooting broke out today in Donetsk, the capital of one of the two regions that pro-Russian insurgents have declared independent. An Associated Press journalist saw some blood on the streets but no wounded people.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Monday ended a unilateral 10-day cease-fire he had called to try to persuade the rebels to lay down their weapons and hold peace talks.