Shelling kills 20 in Donetsk

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More than 20 people were reported killed in fresh fighting in eastern Ukraine on Friday, lowering hopes for a new round of peace talks.
Militia leaders in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk said that at least seven civilians were killed and more than 20 injured when artillery shells hit near a trolleybus and at an aid distribution point. Earlier reports put the number of dead at more than 12, reports dpa.
As in past incidents, both sides accused each other of the shelling. The Security Council in Kiev spoke of a "cynical terrorist act" and suggested that the separatists were trying to undermine a fresh round of peace talks planned in Minsk.
Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said five soldiers were killed and 23 injured in fighting over the past 24 hours.
The Donetsk region's authorities loyal to Kiev said another 14 civilians were killed and at least 10 injured over the same period.
Regional police chief Vyacheslav Abroskin said the violence centred around Debaltseve, where seven people were killed on Friday.
The Donetsk separatists said they had almost encircled Ukrainian troops in Debaltseve, a strategic rail hub that is linked with other government-controlled districts only by a single road.
The bloodshed overshadowed efforts to start fresh peace talks in Minsk.
The separatists' envoys for the talks, Denis Pushilin and Vladislav Deinego, said Friday that Kiev had foiled the talks and that they were forced to leave the Belarusian capital after no Ukrainian delegation showed up.
"Kiev is not fit to negotiate because it cannot control its battalions and stop them from firing into residential areas," Pushilin was quoted by the Interfax news agency.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yevhen Perebyinis retorted that the envoys should not have travelled to Minsk in the first place because Ukraine would only negotiate with the separatists top leaders.
He added that consultations about setting up talks in Minsk continued.
Former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, who represents Ukraine at the talks, said he was ready to fly to Minsk on Saturday.
"We expect the signing of a document on further developing the Minsk agreements of September 15 and of the peace plans of Presidents Poroshenko and Putin," Kuchma told the Interfax Ukraine news agency.
The talks were announced Thursday after a meeting of the so-called Ukraine contact group with Ukrainian President Poroshenko.

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