Ukraine Army, Rebel Forces Trade Blame after Civilians Killed in Convoy Attack

Dozens of Ukrainian refugees trying to escape continued fighting were reportedly killed on Monday outside the eastern city of Luhansk when a convoy of buses trying to ferry them to safety was struck by rocket fire.

Both the Ukrainian Army and rebel commanders accused the other of firing the rockets that hit the convoy. Early reports indicate that women and children were among those killed.

“A powerful artillery strike hit a refugee convoy near the area of Khryashchuvatye and Novosvitlivka,” announced Anatoly Proshin, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Army.  “The force of the blow on the convoy was so strong that people were burned alive in the vehicles — they weren’t able to get themselves out.”

But rebel leaders—who reject the authority of the Kiev government and have battled to retain control of the east against an increasingly intense offensive by the Ukraine Army—deny their forces were responsible for the attack.

“The Ukrainians themselves have bombed the road constantly with airplanes and Grads, ” Andrei Purgin, deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, told Reuters following news of the attack. “It seems they’ve now killed more civilians like they’ve been doing for months now.” He added, “We don’t have the ability to send Grads into that territory.”