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Government-held Ukraine town hit by rebel shells

Smoke rises after shelling in the town of Novoazovsk, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014. Towering columns of smoke rose Tuesday from outside a city in Ukraine's far southeast after what residents said was a heavy artillery barrage. It was the second straight day that attacks were reported in the vicinity of Novoazovsk, which is in eastern Ukraine's separatist Donetsk region but previously had seen little fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits) Smoke rises after shelling in the town of Novoazovsk, eastern Ukraine, Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2014. Towering columns of smoke rose Tuesday from outside a city in Ukraine's far southeast after what residents said was a heavy artillery barrage. It was the second straight day that attacks were reported in the vicinity of Novoazovsk, which is in eastern Ukraine's separatist Donetsk region but previously had seen little fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels. (AP Photo/Sergei Grits)

By Associated Press August 27, 2014 1 min read

NOVOAZOVSK, Ukraine (AP) – A town in east Ukraine has come under shellfire amid fears that pro-Russian rebels in the region are advancing on government-held areas.

In response to outgoing fire early Wednesday, rebel forces lobbed at least 10 shells at the government-held town of Novoazovsk. Plumes of black smoke rose above the town, which was hit repeatedly shelled Tuesday, injuring four residents in a local hospital, according to the town’s mayor, Oleg Sidorkin.

Novoazovsk lies on the Azov Sea on the road that runs from Russia to the major Ukrainian port of Mariupol and west to Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula annexed by Russia earlier this year.

The latest shelling has raised fears that the separatists are aiming to take control of a strip of land that would link Russia to Crimea.