Heavy shelling rocked the outskirts of the pro-Russian rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Monday, one day after Ukraine held a parliamentary election, Reuters reports referring to the city mayor’s office and officials in Kyiv.
“Powerful firing has been heard from high-calibre guns and explosions,” the Donetsk mayor’s website said.
Explosions and gunshots were again heard in Donetsk on the morning of October 27, Ukrininform reports.
“The night of October 26 to October 27 was quiet. The situation in Donetsk is tense as of 10.00. According to residents, powerful shots with heavy guns and explosions are heard in the Kuibyshevsky, Kyivsky, Leninsky and Petrovsky districts of the city,” the press service of the Donetsk City Council says.
No polling stations opened in Donetsk, Makiivka, Horlivka, Torez, Yenakiieve, Shakhtarsk, etc on Sunday as the cities and towns is temporarily occupied by illegal armed groups.
Terrorists from the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic have opened fire on four people who came to vote in Donetsk, observers from the Committee of Voters of Ukraine and the Opora civil network learned this from residents of Donetsk, according to the Novosti Donbassa (News of Donbas) online newspaper.
“My friends and I decided today to vote in the elections, and went to the polling station where we usually vote. It is located at School No. 114 in Petrovsky district of Donetsk. When we arrived there, a man was standing at the entrance and we asked him whether we could vote there. He said ‘now we’ll solve everything’ and went into the school building. After that, we came under machine gun fire from the building, and we barely escaped, because we got to the car in time,” a resident of Donetsk said.
Despite a Sept. 5 ceasefire between Kyiv and pro-Russian separatists in the east, tensions remain high.
The administration of the unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic expects the next meeting of the contact group on Ukraine to meet in Minsk after the elections of the head of the DPR head and deputies of the Supreme Council, Interfax reports.
