SNIZHNE, Ukraine (AP) – An airstrike demolished an apartment block in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, killing at least nine civilians, rescue workers said. The attack adds to the steadily growing number of civilians killed over four months in a dogged pro-Russian insurgency.
Government officials denied the Tuesday strike was carried out by Ukraine’s air force. Rescue workers in Snizhne, a town held by separatist rebels, said they have retrieved nine bodies as residents sifted through the rubble for belongings.
No reliable official recent death toll has been produced, but many hundreds of civilians are known to have been killed to date.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry has insisted the bombing could not have been carried out by the air force as none of its planes were on sorties at the time of the strike. Security Council spokesman Andrei Lysenko called the incident a “cynical and bloody provocation” aimed at discrediting the armed forces.
Officials have not specifically spelled out whom they blame; rebel forces are not known to have access to airpower.