UKRAINE | Rebel shelling claims lives, sets houses ablaze

Homes burn after being hit by a shell in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine

Clashes broke out yesterday outside the main rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine, throwing the freshly forged cease-fire agreement between government troops and Russian-backed separatists into further doubt.
At least two houses blazed in the rural village of Spartak, which lies just north of Donetsk and adjacent to the airport, after they were hit by fire. A man whose house was struck by a shell said rebels had fired from a spot nearby, which appeared to have provoked a retaliatory attack from Ukrainian government troops. This pattern has been regularly observed in the nearly five-month-long military confrontation.
A group of rebel fighters in the village danced and drank yesterday morning in celebration after what they said was a successful assault on a Ukrainian military encampment in the vicinity. One said their group had captured eight government troops, although none of these captives could be seen.
The fighter, who provided only the nom de guerre Khokhol, freely acknowledged that the cease-fire was not being respected by either side.
“There was mortar shelling around 20 minutes ago here in Spartak,” he said. “There is no cease-fire for anyone.”
The truce signed on Friday appeared to be holding for much of the following day, but was shattered late Saturday by shelling on the outskirts of the southeastern port town of Mariupol, where Ukrainian troops retain defensive lines against the rebels. The city council said that one civilian was killed there and a serviceman wounded.
The volunteer pro-government Azov Battalion said on Facebook that their positions were also hit by Grad rockets, but did not give details.
Mariupol is located on the coast of the Sea of Azov, 115 kilometers (70 miles) south of Donetsk. Rebels recently opened a new front on the coast, leading to fears that they were trying to secure a land corridor between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in March.
Amnesty International yesterday condemned all those engaged in the grinding conflict that according to U.N. estimates has claimed at least 2,600 civilian lives and forced hundreds of thousands out of their homes. Mstyslav Chernov, Ukraine, AP