DONETSK, June 9 (RIA Novosti) – A Grad multiple-launch rocket system was destroyed near the eastern Ukrainian city of Slaviansk, local independence supporters told RIA Novosti Monday.
“[We] destroyed a Grad multiple launch rocket system… Its ammunition detonated,” a spokesman said.
The Ukrainian army continues to attack Slaviansk and its suburbs with Grad multiple-launch rocket systems, howitzers and self-propelled 2S4 Tyulpan mortars.
The city council officials told RIA Novosti earlier in the day that the city suffered significant damage during the attacks by the Ukrainian army. Artillery shells launched by the Ukrainian government forces partially destroyed a number of workshops, hospitals and schools, and damaged a gas pipeline.
Numerous casualties including among civilians have been reported.
People are continuing to flee the city.
Clashes between independence supporters and the Ukrainian army in the country’s eastern regions have been on the rise since the beginning of a military operation by the authorities in Kiev in mid-April.
The operation that triggered condemnation from Russia already led to dozens of victims in a number of eastern cities, including Slaviansk.