The BBC's Mark Lowen witnessed the battle at Donetsk airport, and returned on Tuesday to examine the bloody aftermath
Ukraine's interior ministry says the military is now in full control of the airport in the eastern city of Donetsk after a day of bloody clashes.
More than 30 pro-Russia separatists were reported killed after an attempt to seize the airport early on Monday.
New President Petro Poroshenko vowed to tackle the eastern uprising within hours not months. Russia has called for an immediate end to military action.
Meanwhile, the OSCE says it has lost contact with a monitoring team.
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said four of its monitors were on a routine mission east of Donetsk when they were stopped at a checkpoint on Monday. They have not been heard from since 18:00 (16:00 GMT) that day.
A spokesman told the BBC the monitors, all male, were Turkish, Swiss, Estonian and Danish. Danish trade minister Mogens Jensen said it was believed they were being held by armed separatists.
In April, seven international military observers linked to the OSCE were held captive in eastern Ukraine for a week.
Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a statement on Tuesday: "The airport is under our full control. The enemy suffered heavy losses. We have none."
He said operations were still continuing. Sporadic gun and artillery fire could be heard into the afternoon.
At the scene: Mark Lowen in Donetsk
The Kiev government was absolutely determined that the airport would not fall to the insurgents.
Back in February when pro-Russia separatists launched their incursion in Crimea - which led to Moscow's annexation of the peninsula a month later - the airport was the first key installation they took control of, so Kiev was committed to clamping down on that.
Ukraine's new president gave a speech on Monday saying he would not negotiate with "terrorists" as he put it - and clearly you see the impact of that around Donetsk airport.
A local coroner told the BBC he had seen 37 bodies, among them two civilians.
Photographs from inside Donetsk morgue showed more than a dozen bodies in military fatigues piled in a small room.
A representative of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic separatists said at least 30 of their injured fighters had died when a truck which was taking them to hospital came under fire from government troops.
Mark Lowen reports from the ground in Donetsk during Monday's fighting at the city's airport
Other reports of the death toll vary: Donetsk mayor Alexander Lukyanchenko said 40 people had been killed in the past day, while other rebel leaders said the final toll could rise above 100.
President's vow
The clashes started early on Monday as separatists stormed the Sergei Prokofiev Donetsk airport.
The Ukrainian military responded quickly with air strikes and an assault by heavily armed troops.
0 comments:
Post a Comment