The explosion occurred at about 12:10 p.m. and hit the area around local chemical plant, the website of Donetsk city council reported. The massive shelling was heard in almost all parts of the city as of 6 p.m. Six people were wounded in the city by shelling on Oct. 19, the report said.
The chemical plant is located in the Donetsk suburbs near the airport, a strategic point controlled by the Ukrainian army since late May.
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The shock wave after the blast smashed the windows in city center and brought to damage of the famous Donbas Arena, Donetsk stadium constructed in August 2009 for football tournament Euro 2012 for some $400 million.
The explosion broke the windows at the building in the city center, where Andrey Purgin, vice-prime minister of self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic had a meeting.
The insurgents accused the Ukrainian troops of using Tochka U missile system capable at hitting the target at up to 75 miles away, which the Ukrainian troops swiftly denied.
Clashes intensify in Donetsk today between warring sides.
The separatist’s leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko said the blast this could undermine peace talks in the war-torn east. “No more talks about ceasefire,” he said.
More than 300 people have been killed in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts since the cease-fire was announced on Sept. 5 with minimum 3,600 people perished since the beginning of the conflict, the United Nations estimated.
Vladislav Seleznev, Ukraine’s military spokesman, called “lies” the allegations of applying Tochka U by the Ukrainian forces in Donetsk and said the video showing the explosion was four months old. Seleznev said in the report that the soldiers defending the airport had two massive attacks of separatists on Oct. 20.
The attacks on airport intensified since late Oct. 19, one of its defenders, soldier of 93th brigade with nom-de-guerre Agat, told the Kyiv Post by phone. “Yesterday our guys burned down their (separatists’) tank,” he said.
Agat, 26, who is one of legendary “cyborgs” for their toughness, said there was no one killed but several soldiers were wounded in the old terminal and control tower. Agat is based in new airport terminal. He also claimed the airport defenders didn’t have Tochka U.
He believes that the Ukrainian troops have already lost dozens of their soldiers killed for over five months of fight for airport under constant shelling. “It’s good if we have three hours of silence,” Agat said.
Volunteer Denys Yermak said it’s possible to bring supplies for airport defenders only when it’s dark as otherwise the car has high chances to be hit by rebels.
The soldiers have to hide behind the concrete walls, while the separatists are running in the underground communications. Many of their dead bodies are rotting outside, Agat said.
But the Ukrainian soldiers also sometimes find their dead weeks after, as it happened with tank driver, parts of whose damaged body the soldiers took under the burned armored vehicle on Oct. 19, Agat said.
Despite being source of pride for the entire Ukraine the legendary “cyborgs” are often neglected and underpaid by the army, he added.
There’s little left at the airport that was reconstructed for Euro 2012 at a cost of $750 million. But Agat believes this strategic object could be traded only in exchange for all of the Ukrainian hostages.
“We paid so high price for this place,” he said.
Kyiv Post staff writer Oksana Grytsenko can be reached at [email protected]
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