Ten Ukraine civilians killed after ‘stray’ rocket hits bus at checkpoint

Ten Ukrainian civilians were killed and more than a dozen wounded on Tuesday when a long-range Grad rocket, apparently fired by pro-Russian insurgents, hit an intercity bus. Local police said the rocket appeared to have gone astray after being fired by the gunmen at a checkpoint set up by soldiers on the main highway connecting the rebel stronghold of Donetsk with Ukraine’s southeastern coast. The incident marked one of the deadliest attacks on civilians since the rival sides signed a much-maligned September 5 truce.

An investigation is in progress. The road between Donetsk and Mariupol has been closed.

Donetsk regional interior ministry department chief Vyacheslav Abroskin

The death toll from Tuesday’s incident included six women and four men. Officials said 13 others had been hospitalised near the town of Volnovakha where the bus was hit. Tuesday’s strike will damage Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko’s efforts to set up a peace summit where his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin could personally sign a truce to try to end the nine-month war in the former Soviet republic.

Ukraine Europe