Ukraine says dozens killed in shelling

KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine accused pro-Russia separatists of killing dozens of civilians in an attack early Monday on a convoy fleeing a besieged rebel-held city. The rebels denied any attack took place, while the U.S. confirmed the shelling of the convoy but said it did not know who was responsible.

The refugees were attacked with Grad rockets and other weapons imported from Russia as their convoy traveled on the main road leading from Russia to the rebel-held city of Luhansk, Col. Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine’s National Security Council, told reporters.

“Many people were killed, among them women and children,” Lysenko said of the attack, which occurred between the towns of Khryashchuvate and Novosvitlivka. “We are not able to count the death toll at this point.”

When asked about a rough estimate of deaths, he said “dozens.”

Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky, a spokesman for the Ukrainian government’s military operation in the east, later told the Associated Press that 15 bodies had been recovered from the smoldering vehicles and servicemen were collecting the body parts of at least 10 more people.

Donetsk rebel chief Alexander Zakharchenko insisted that no such attack had taken place. His deputy, Andrei Purgin, said he had no information about an attack and insisted it was not by his forces.

“If someone was killed, it wasn’t us but the Ukrainian military,” Purgin told the AP.

The road where Ukraine said Monday’s attack took place has been the scene of heavy fighting in recent days as Ukrainian forces try to seal off supply routes into Luhansk from Russia. It’s also the same road that would likely be the route taken by a controversial Russian aid convoy if Ukraine allows it into the country.

Fighting between government troops and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine has forced nearly 344,000 people to flee their homes, according to the United Nations, a number that has only grown as the humanitarian situation in rebel-held cities deteriorates.