Separatisti filo-russi hanno abbattuto un grande aereo militare da trasporto nell’Ucraina orientale, uccidendo 49 persone a bordo con un duro colpo per gli sforzi del governo di sedare la rivolta.

Il ministero della difesa ha detto che l’aereo è stato abbattuto in fase di atterraggio all’aereoporto di Lugansk. I
Pro-Russian separatists have shot down a large military transport plane in eastern Ukraine, reportedly killing 49 people on board in a major blow for the government’s efforts to quell the insurgency.

The defence ministry said the plane was shot down as it approached an airport at Luhansk. The Il-76 transport plane had been carrying service personnel, equipment and food. The military spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov told the Reuters news agency that 49 people had died.

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The Ukrainian government has announced its forces have retaken the southern city of Mariupol from pro-Russian separatist gunmen, and in heavy fighting has also retaken control of a long stretch of the border with Russia.

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An Ukrainian soldier observes the road at a checkpoint outside the town of Amvrosiivka, eastern Ukraine, close to the Russian border, Thursday, June 5, 2014. AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

At least 15 pro-Russian rebels were killed in clashes with government troops at a border crossing with Russia, an aide to the Ukrainian interior minister said Thursday.

Speaking on a television show late Thursday, Anton Herashchenko said Ukrainian border guards clashed earlier in the day with armed men who came from Russia in trucks and an infantry vehicle and tried to cross the border at the village of Marynivka in eastern Ukraine.

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Government forces pressed on with an offensive against pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine today, claiming they had inflicted heavy losses on the rebel side.

A spokesman for Kiev’s “anti-terrorist operation” said more than 300 rebel fighters had been killed and about 500 wounded in fierce fighting in the past 24 hours in and near the city of Slaviansk, a strategically-located separatist stronghold.

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The shooting at the Luhansk border guard unit continued as of 1030, the Ukrainian Border Guard Service has reported.

“The situation has not changed dramatically: the shooting continues. It has been going for seven hours without interruption,” Oleh Slobodian, the head of the agency’s press service, told Interfax-Ukraine.

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