“According to preliminary reports, the shelling in Mariupol killed 16 and wounded 86,” Yatsenyuk said during an emergency response center meeting.
Meanwhile, head of the Ukrainian Internal Affairs Ministry in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Vyacheslav Abroskin, stated that the number of victims in Mariupol had reached 20.
“The morgue has received about 20 bodies, and the number is growing,” Abroskin said.
Some pretty grim images coming in apparently from this morning's shelling in Mariupol. pic.twitter.com/TM3diu8bin
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) January 24, 2015
Donetsk militia denied the claims, stating that its forces have no artillery systems near Mariupol, which is controlled by Kiev and located outside of the main conflict zone in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region.
According to a representative of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, the shelling came from Mariupol's western district of Stary Krym, where Ukrainian Armed Forces are stationed, and could be a provocation.
Tensions in eastern Ukraine have been on the rise since the beginning of the year. On Thursday, at least eight people were killed when a trolleybus came under fire in the city of Donetsk, while more than 30 civilians reportedly lost their lives in a series of airstrikes in the town of Horlivka the previous Sunday.
