UKRAINE: Piles of bodies of dead pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk morgue

Record ID: 643466

  • Title: UKRAINE: Piles of bodies of dead pro-Russian rebels in Donetsk morgue
  • Date: 27th May 2014
  • Summary: DONETSK, UKRAINE (MAY 27, 2014) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF POLICE STANDING OUTSIDE MORGUE VARIOUS OF PEOPLE, SOME OF THEM ARMED AND IN MILITARY FATIGUES, OUTSIDE OF MORGUE CAMERAS ENTERING MORGUE
  • Embargoed: 11th June 2014 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Ukraine
  • Country: Ukraine
  • Topics: Conflict,Politics,People
  • Reuters ID: LVA2VRZOX6JIGUATPB368YYTELBD
  • Story Text: Dead bodies of pro-Russian rebels were delivered to a morgue in Donetsk on Tuesday (May 27), as fighting continues in the city for a second day.
    Ukrainian forces fought with separatists and inflicted heavy losses on the rebels. The government has vowed to press on with a military offensive "until not a single terrorist" was left.
    Pro-Russian rebels have said more than 50 of their fighters had been killed in Donetsk, an industrial hub of one million in eastern Ukraine.
    A Reuters correspondent counted 20 bodies in combat fatigues in one room of a hospital morgue, some of them missing limbs.
    Ukraine used air strikes and a paratroop assault on Monday to clear rebels from Donetsk's international terminal and had pushed the separatists out of the complex by the end of the day.
    But shooting continued through the night and on Tuesday the road to the airport bore signs of fighting overnight and heavy machinegun fire could be heard in the distance in mid-morning.
    Donetsk mayor Alexander Lukyanchenko said 40 people had been killed in the past day, 38 of the bodies being of those involved in fighting around the airport.
    Ukraine launched the fresh offensive against the rebels, who have occupied strategic points in Donetsk and other towns in the east, after Ukraine's newly elected president rejected any talks with "terrorists."
    Petro Poroshenko, a 48-year-old billionaire oligarch, won overwhelming support in Sunday's (May 25) election that many hope will draw a line under six months of upheaval. He said a robust military campaign in the east should be able to put down a separatist revolt in "a matter of hours."
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