More people die as shelling of Donetsk continues

More people die as shelling of Donetsk continues

DONETSK -- At least two women were killed on Friday in the shelling of the town of Donetsk carried out by the Ukrainian army, Voice of Russia is reporting.

Strong detonations were heard in downtown and near the airport, where rebels and Ukrainian security forces continue to fight.

Later in the day, Kiev announced that a five year old girl was killed and her mother seriously wounded during the shelling of an area near Lugansk.

AFP quoted Ukrainian army and local officials as saying that the child died "when rebel mortar fire hit a village close to the front line, northwest of the major rebel stronghold of Lugansk."

The headquarters of the pro-Russian activists in the area said earlier that Ukrainian forces were still in the northern part of the Donetsk airport and were firing from heavy weapons, targeting the rebels and residential areas.

The Russian radio station also reported that cameramen from the Russian Vesti television outlet came under fire from the Ukrainian army near the airport, but escaped unharmed.

The United Nations said on October 31 that more than 4,000 civilians had died in the fighting in eastern Ukraine, and 9,000 more had been injured.