At least 20 killed and 74 wounded in artillery attack on Mariupol

At least 20 killed and 74 wounded in an artillery attack on Mariupol, Donetsk region, on January 24 morning, Vyacheslav Abroskin,  chief of the Donetsk region Interior Ministry department, said at a meeting of the operative headquarters of security officers.

 “Twenty bodies have already been delivered to the ward and this number is growing. Militia have cordoned off the district, and search operations are underway in the area,” he said. Earlier, the Mariupol Town Council reported on 83 wounded.  “Seventy-four wounded have been taken to local hospitals. Another nine people with light injuries received first aid and were let go,” according to the Town Council. Ukraine’s Ministry of Interior Affairs blames Mariupol rebels for shelling at residential neighborhoods.

The Defense Ministry of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic has denied the reports by the Ukrainian media outlets, saying it was hoax.

“It is an explicit misinformation and lie. The rebel forces have not shelled at Mariupol, especially at the residential neighborhoods,” a representative of the Defense Ministry told the Donetsk News Agency.

A resident of Mariupol, who became a witness of the shelling, told TASS, Russian news agency, “the shell was fired from the Ilyich Iron and Steel Works, and gun shots were heard from there. That territory is under control of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.”