Lining Up to Receive Aid in Ukraine, Crowd Is Devastated by a Mortar Attack

DONETSK, Ukraine — Seven people were killed and at least three wounded in a pair of mortar attacks on the city’s west side Friday, including one that hit a crowd of people waiting in line to receive humanitarian aid as fighting raged outside of town.

The carnage ended nearly a day and a half of relative calm in the region controlled by pro-Russian separatists, where fighting between the rebels and the Ukrainian military has spiked sharply since a shaky cease-fire broke down this month.

Officials of the Donetsk People’s Republic were quick to attribute the attacks to Ukrainian “saboteurs” who they said had infiltrated the city. “Once again we have the baseness and the meanness of the Ukrainian sabotage groups,” they said in a statement.

Ukraine’s government, meanwhile, blamed provocateurs trying to derail the peace process for the attack. “The Ukrainian Army didn’t conduct any hostilities near the city of Donetsk today and had nothing to do with the fire on the humanitarian aid point,” said Vladimir Polevoy, deputy chief of the Information and Analysis Center of Ukraine’s Safety and Defense Council.

Sounds of heavy shelling and rocket fire emanated from the ruined airport, the site of almost continuous hostilities despite a cease-fire that was declared on Sept. 5. Fighting was also reported around the town of Debaltseve, a railroad hub where a contingent of Ukrainian soldiers is surrounded on three sides by rebel troops.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/31/world/europe/mortar-attacks-in-donetsk-as-ukrainian-fighting-rages-on.html?_r=0