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Shelling hit a trolleybus in war-torn east Ukraine’s Donetsk on Thursday and killed at least 13 people, an official said, hours after peace talks in Berlin called for a ceasefire.
“Twelve people were killed in the trolleybus and another who was in a car that was passing nearby,” said an official with the emergency services in the city, a bastion of pro-Russian rebels who are fighting Ukraine’s military.
Around a dozen people were also wounded, the official said.

On Wednesday night, shelling in a neighbourhood near Donetsk airport, the epicentre of clashes in recent days, hit another bus and killed one person, city official Ivan Prikhodko told reporters
Thursday’s violence came hours after the foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany and France ended a crisis meeting in Berlin with a joint call to cease hostilities, but no breakthrough agreement to stop the bloodshed.
Ukraine’s military said on Thursday days of attacks by pro-Russian insurgents had forced its soldiers to pull out of the main part of a devastated airport that has become the symbolic prize of the nine-month war.
Defence officials in Kiev said fighting around the ruins of Donetsk international airport continued despite the deaths of six Ukrainian troops and the capture of 16 more by separatists overnight.
Ukraine said 10 soldiers had been killed overall and 16 wounded in the past 24 hours of fighting across the mostly Russian-speaking industrial east of Ukraine – one of the heaviest tolls since the signing of a largely ineffective September truce.
“Yesterday evening we made the decision to leave the new terminal,” military spokesman Vladyslav Seleznyov said in reference to the main airport building that had been held by Kiev forces since late May.
The pullout was reported by Kiev just minutes after at least 13 civilians were killed when either a rocket or an artillery shell hit a trolleybus near the city centre of Donetsk.
The rebel capital has witnessed a sharp escalation of attacks in recent weeks that have undermined stuttering international efforts to stem bloodshed that has already claimed more than 4,800 lives.
The Sergei Prokofiev International Airport was rebuilt at a cost of nearly US$1 billion to host football fans arriving for matches in the city during the Euro 2012 championship.
It was attacked by the rebels for the first time just days after the presidential election of Petro Poroshenko – a pro-Western tycoon who vowed to cement Ukraine’s ties with Europe and the United States.
Ukrainian media began referring to soldiers hanging onto the hub as the “cyborgs” because of their seeming ability to withstand nonstop assaults from heavily-armed separatists with limited logistical support from Kiev.
Poroshenko’s top security adviser said that Kiev was not yet ready to cede the airport to the rebels – despite Russia’s pressure diplomatic to do so – because it remained a neutral site under the September agreements.
“Donetsk airport has been and remains a part of the front line,” presidential adviser Yuriy Biryukov wrote on Facebook.
“We were unable to take the ruins of the new terminal under our control in the past six days,” he wrote.
“The breaking point came the day before yesterday.”
The conflict has killed more than 4,800 people since erupting in April 2014.


Thirteen civilians killed as shelling hits trolleybus in Ukraine’s Donetsk 

People inspect the damaged trolleybus in Donetsk. Photo: Reuters

An interior view shows a damaged trolleybus in Donetsk. Photo: Reuters

The body of a victim lies inside the damaged trolleybus in Donetsk. Photo: Reuters

Thirteen people died in the attack, and a dozen others were wounded. Photo: Reuters

A shell or a mortar hit a trolleybus stop in the rebel-controlled city of Donetsk. Photo: Reuters

Russia denies its troops are in Ukraine ahead of peace talks

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Wednesday there was no evidence that Russian soldiers and weapons entered eastern Ukraine. Photo: AFP

The body of a victim killed by recent shelling lies on a street in Donetsk. Photo: Reuters


Fighting rages near Donetsk airport as Russia and Ukraine bicker

A DNR officer talks on the phone from Hospital No. 3, after it was hit by Ukrainian army artillery in the Kalininsky district of Donetsk. Photo: AP 

The damaged Hospital No. 3 in the Kalininsky districtof Donetsk after it was hit by Ukrainian artillery. Photo: AP 

A man walks near a residential building, which was recently damaged by shelling in Donetsk. Photo: Reuters

Shattered glass fills a room of Hospital No. 3. Photo: AFP 

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Ukraine soldiers pull out of main part of Donetsk airport


Shelling hit a trolleybus in war-torn east Ukraine’s Donetsk on Thursday and killed at least 13 people, an official said, hours after peace talks in Berlin called for a ceasefire.


Thirteen civilians killed as shelling hits trolleybus in Ukraine’s Donetsk

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Ukraine soldiers pull out of main part of Donetsk airport

Ukraine soldiers pull out of main part of Donetsk airport