Ukraine leader vows to retake separatist-held east

Ukraine’s president vowed Sunday to reassert government control over eastern regions as the army unleashed a counter-offensive against Russian-backed separatist fighters vying for command over the airport in the city of Donetsk. The separatist stronghold was shaken by intense outgoing and incoming artillery fire over the weekend as a bitter battle rages for the air terminal and surrounding areas. Streets in Donetsk, which was home to 1 million people before unrest erupted in spring, were completely deserted Sunday and the windows of apartments in the center were rattled by incessant rocket and mortar fire. The warring sides exchanged rocket fire along several points in the roughly 350-kilometre front line.

Today we will show just how much we can smash their [rebels] teeth in.

Yuriy Biryukov, an adviser to Poroshenko, said on Facebook

President Petro Poroshenko told a crowd of several thousand gathered in the center of the capital, Kiev, that Ukraine wouldn’t “give up an inch” of its land to Russian-backed separatists. Hundreds of people, including Poroshenko, held up signs reading “Je Suis Volnovakha,” referring to the 13 people killed when a passenger bus was shelled in the eastern town of that name. The message was an echo of the “Je Suis Charlie” tribute adopted after the terrorist attacks in Paris. The separatists upped the ante last week by successfully taking over large sections of Donetsk airport, where Ukrainian troops remained despite coming under rocket attacks for months on end. Both sides have incurred losses in the close-quarter combat.

Ukraine donetsk Europe