"Militia forces have no artillery systems near Mariupol that would be able to shell that region. The place is too far away from our positions," a representative of the DPR militia told RIA Novosti.
According to the representative, the city was shelled from the territory controlled by the Ukrainian Forces.
According to the Ukrainian Internal Ministry, the shelling allegedly killed at least ten people.
Donetsk Region authorities reported, citing the medical workers, that 20 people were injured as a result of the shelling.
This looks to be the location of the photo of burning cars in Mariupol. pic.twitter.com/pARYy26p3o
— Veli-Pekka Kivimäki (@vpkivimaki) January 24, 2015
Despite a ceasefire agreement reached by the warring sides in September 2014 and a subsequent "silence regime" proclaimed in early December, confrontation between Kiev forces and independence supporters in southeast Ukraine has intensified sharply in the beginning of 2015.
On January 18, more than 30 civilians, including children, was killed in the town of Horlivka in Donetsk Region in a series of airstrikes carried out by Ukrainian warplanes, according to a senior commander of the DPR militia.
On Thursday, the shelling of a trolleybus stop in the city of Donetsk killed between nine and 15 people, according to various sources, and left several more injured.