Ukraine shelling kills 6 civilians, injures 14 in central Donetsk: Press TV correspondent

Six civilians have been killed and 14 others injured as Ukrainian forces continue shelling the central Donetsk region in the east of the country, Press TV correspondent says.

Johnny Miller made the remarks in a Monday live report for Press TV from the center of Donetsk, the capital of the Donbas Peoples' Republic. Miller is currently in that region to cover the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.

Miller said the Ukrainian forces had earlier in the day targeted civilian facilities in Donetsk, including schools and residential buildings, leaving three people dead and five others injured as preliminary reports on the number of casualties indicated.

The Press TV correspondent later updated the death toll from the Ukrainian shelling of the civilian areas in the city, saying six people had been killed and 14 others injured.

“The shelling of the Ukrainian military on civilian areas of Donetsk is nothing new here,” Miller said, stressing that US-supplied artillery have been used in the attacks. “It is a daily occurrence; civilians are killed almost every day.”

Russian military also confirmed the Monday shelling, saying Ukrainian forces targeted civilian infrastructure in Ukraine's the city of Donetsk, which is controlled by pro-Russian forces.

"On May 30, Ukrainian security forces shelled the center of the city of Donetsk. According to preliminary information, five civilians were killed, including a teenager born in 2009," Russia's Investigative Committee said as quoted by Russian news agencies. It added 16 people were injured in the attack that damaged three schools.

The headmistress of one of the schools, Olga Rachinskaya, told the media that many of the teachers “were lacerated with shrapnel.” She said among the fatalities were two workers who were elderly.

“This is just an ordinary school. There is nothing military here, nothing,” Rachinskaya said, adding that Donetsk schools teach remotely, so students were not in the classrooms when the shells hit.

More western arms supplies to Ukraine risks ‘further destabilization’: Putin

ussian President Vladimir Putin has warned the leaders of France and Germany against ramping up arms supplies to Ukraine, saying they could further destabilize the situation in the former Soviet state.

Mayor of Donetsk Aleksey Kulemzin speculated that the Ukrainian troops may have used US-supplied 155mm M777 howitzers in the assault on the city on Monday.

“This is heavy weaponry, most likely the American delivery,” he told Russian television when describing the attacks, adding that some of the shell fragments discovered on the ground had markings in English.

Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine in late February, following Kiev’s failure to implement the terms of the Minsk agreements and Moscow’s recognition of the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.

At the time, Russian President Vladimir Putin said one of the goals of what he called a “special military operation” was to “de-Nazify” Ukraine.

Western countries have responded to the Russian military campaign by backing Ukraine with cash and heavy weaponry while imposing unprecedented sanctions on Russian officials and entities. Moscow has repeatedly warned that such a flow of weapons to Kiev will only prolong the conflict.

Talks between the two warring sides have been held regularly both in person and via video link since Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine. However, the negotiations have failed to produce a breakthrough, as both the warring sides have refused to compromise on their respective redlines.

Moscow has already warned that Western weaponry supplies to Ukraine may hurt any prospects of peace.

Liberation of Donbas ‘unconditional priority’ for Moscow, says FM Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has called the liberation of Ukraine

EU not ready to approve Russia oil ban

Separately on Monday, European Union leaders said they would fail to agree on a ban on Russian oil export at a summit in Brussels on May 30 and 31. They said weeks of haggling over the matter were not over even if they were hopeful for a deal later. “We're not there yet,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. “But I'm confident that thereafter there will be a possibility.”

Earlier, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said it was more realistic to expect an agreement next month. “I don't think we'll reach an agreement today. We'll try to reach an agreement by the summit in June, this is the realistic approach by now.”

The next summit is scheduled in the Belgian capital on June 23-24.

Ahead of the Monday summit of the EU leaders, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that the bloc has yet to come up with a compromise that could see him back an embargo on Russian oil.

European diplomats have drafted a statement proposing that Hungary receive a temporary exemption from the ban, and hope it will be adopted at the two-day Brussels meeting. But Orban told reporters, “There is no agreement at all.”

According to reports, an eventual sixth package of EU sanctions will include a ban on seaborne oil imports, with pipeline oil supplied to landlocked Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic to be sanctioned at some later point.

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