Donetsk Rocked by Heavy Shelling
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - Artillery shells have hit close to the center of Ukraine's separatist-held city of Donetsk, killing at least one person, witnesses said.
With Ukrainian government forces tightening the noose on pro-Russian separatists, shelling rocked Donetsk, sending frightened residents rushing for cover.
It was not immediately clear if the artillery was fired by government or rebel forces.
Two shells landed 200 metres from the Park Inn Radisson, one of the city's main hotels, shattering windows.
The blasts blew a hole on the third floor of an apartment block and left a broad crater on the pavement.
Nearby, a body covered by a sheet lay stretched out on the blood-stained ground.
Fierce clashes between government forces and rebel fighters have killed 74 civilians over the last three days in east Ukraine's war-torn Donetsk region, local authorities said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian government announced on Thursday that it was dispatching its own convoy of humanitarian aid to troubled eastern Ukraine.
The government said trucks would depart from the government-controlled cities of Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk and Kharkiv for a town in the Luhansk region later in the day, Al Jazeera reported.
The announcement came as a Russian aid convoy inched towards the border, raising concerns in Kiev that Moscow could be aiming to send in arms for the separatists under the guise of civilian supplies.
