Ukraine crisis: Rockets 'kill 15' in Mariupol

At least 15 people have been killed and 46 injured
in a series of rocket attacks by pro-Russian rebels
in Ukraine's government-held port of Mariupol,
police there say.
The Grad rockets hit a market in a residential area
in the east of the city, the police chief said.
A spokesman for the rebels denied that they had
any involvement in the attack, calling it "blatant
misinformation".
More than 5,000 people have died in fighting in the
east since April.
The rebels have seized a large swathe of the
Donetsk and Luhansk regions. More than a million
people have been displaced.
The main pro-Russian rebel leader in eastern
Ukraine, Alexander Zakharchenko, said on Friday
that his troops were on the offensive and that he
did not want truce talks with Kiev.
A ceasefire agreed in Minsk in September but
never fully took hold. Many hoped that the lower
level of hostilities it introduced would last, but the
BBC's David Stern says that the fighting is
beginning to approach what was seen last
summer.
'Very scared'
Mariupol has a population of 500,000 and is in a
highly strategic position, sitting between rebel-held
eastern areas and Crimea, which was annexed by
Russia last March. The city saw heavy fighting in
August.
Our correspondent says that if the hostilities move
to Mariupol it will signal a major escalation in the
fighting.
Unverified video footage on Saturday indicated that
a number cars, houses and apartment buildings
had been struck and were in flames.
Our correspondent says the attack appeared to
come from a multiple-rocket launcher, which fires
a large number of missiles over a spread-out area.
The rebels denied any involvement. Interfax news
agency quoted the defence ministry of the Donetsk
People's Republic as saying: "This is blatant
misinformation and a lie. Rebel forces did not open
any fire in the direction of Mariupol, especially not
on residential areas."
One resident told Agence France-Presse by
telephone: "Obviously, everyone in the city is very
scared. The rebels have already seized the airport.
And now they are starting to destroy Mariupol
itself."
The US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt,
tweeted: "Today's indiscriminate shelling of
Mariupol part of an apparently Russian-backed
general offensive in complete violation of Minsk
agreements."
On Friday, rebel military spokesman Eduard
Basurin said 24 rebel troops had been killed and
30 wounded in recent fighting. He called it "the
heaviest losses in our ranks" in a 24-hour period.
Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany have all
issued calls for an end to the fighting.
Ukraine and its Western allies say Russian regular
troops are fighting alongside the separatists, using
Russian heavy artillery and tanks. Moscow insists
that only Russian "volunteers" have joined the
rebels.