Ukraine crisis: Renewed fighting 'catastrophic' says UN
Source: BBC
Up to 16 civilians have been killed and dozens more injured in the space of 24 hours in fighting in eastern Ukraine, as the UN warns that the fresh surge in violence is proving "catastrophic".
Government and rebel representatives reported the latest deaths in locations across the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Ukraine's army also said five soldiers had died fighting pro-Russian rebels near the strategic town of Debaltseve.
Civilian casualties have risen sharply in recent weeks amid a rebel offensive. The latest deaths were in the city of Donetsk, Debaltseve and several villages under government control in the Luhansk region. The exact numbers could not be independently confirmed.
'Bus stop battlegrounds'
UN human rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said there had been a "clear breach of international humanitarian law which governs the conduct of armed conflicts". "Bus stops and public transport, marketplaces, schools and kindergartens, hospitals and residential areas have become battlegrounds in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine," he said in a statement.
Read more: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-31113652
BBC calls the Russian proxies "rebels," but the "rebels" call their enemies "the Ukrainians." Doesn't sound like a civil war to me, sounds like what it is--a war of invasion and occupation by Putin, slaughter on the edge of Europe.
geek tragedy
(68,868 posts)dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Terms like "battlefield" "battleground" are being used..but not...war?
totodeinhere
(13,058 posts)other. One side might eventually win, or there could be a protracted conflict that might be hard to stop. Either way the suffering of innocent civilians will continue for some time.