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Ukraine troops ‘take back most of airport’

Monday, 19 January 2015 9:01 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 19 January 2015 9:01 AM ]

The main terminal of Donetsk Sergey Prokofiev International Airport damaged by shelling (file photo)

The Ukrainian military says it has recaptured almost all the territory of the Donetsk International Airport from pro-Russia forces in the country’s east.

The announcement on Sunday came after days of clashes between the two sides at the Donetsk Sergey Prokofiev International Airport.

“We succeeded in almost completely cleansing the territory of the airport, which belongs to the territory of Ukrainian forces as marked by military separation lines,” Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said.

Fighting also erupted in other parts of the region known as Donbass.

Tensions further intensified after Kiev accused the pro-Russia forces of carrying out an attack on a bus in Volnovakha, which killed 12 civilians.

However, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said in a recent report that pro-Russia forces were not responsible for the incident. The attacks came in violation of a shaky ceasefire agreement reached in September last year in the Belarusian capital, Minsk, following mediation by Russia and the OSCE.

Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east have witnessed deadly clashes between pro-Russia forces and the Ukrainian army since Kiev launched military operations to silence protests there in mid-April 2014.

According to the latest figures released by the United Nations, nearly 5,000 people have been killed in the fighting.

Kiev and its Western allies accuse Russia of having a hand in the chaotic situation in eastern Ukraine, an allegation Moscow categorically denies.

SZH/HJL

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Donetsk airport