Seven employees of a fitness centre huddled in its basement in the heart of rebel-held Donetsk on Thursday as the centre of the besieged city came under sustained shelling for first time.
Above them a mortar had torn a gaping hole in a wall of the spa complex, smashing all of the windows.
A security guard told AFP that no one was hurt, as the boom of artillery fire started up again.
Not far away one person was killed and two injured when the orthopaedic ward of a local hospital took a direct hit, local health authorities said.
The streets of Donetsk were deserted for the most part, but those still out were shocked by what was happening.
"Donetsk is being bombarded and the hospital was targeted," said one of the few local residents to be seen.
"There were explosions this morning. This isn't right," he said, as he sat on a bench lighting a cigarette.
City authorities reported that mortar fire was exploding around a key rebel base inside the heavily fortified former regional headquarters of Ukraine's SBU security agency.
The city council warned local residents "to get off the streets and seek shelter in a safe location".
Ukraine's troops are camped out around the edge of the million-strong industrial hub and have warned they are gearing up to retake the city from the heavily-armed rebels hunkered down there.
A military spokesman said they were conducting "offensive operations" against Donetsk and the second-largest rebel bastion of Lugansk.
Both government forces and rebels have been accused by the United Nations of firing heavy weapons into built-up areas, but both blame the other side.
Seven soldiers were killed and 19 injured in clashes across the east during the past 24 hours of fighting, the Ukrainian military said.
- 'How can you kill like this?' -
On the outskirts of Donetsk overnight, artillery fire killed three civilians and injured five more in the southeastern Budyonivsky district, city authorities said.
The mortar blasts damaged three apartment blocks and five houses, while shelling in a village on the western outskirts of the city also destroyed two houses but no casualties were reported, the city council said in a statement.
Authorities in the strategically important rebel-held city of Gorlivka -- some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Donetsk -- said that five civilians were killed and 10 injured there in clashes Thursday.
Almost four months of fighting has claimed the lives of some 1,300 people, with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence.
More than 285,000 people have also fled their homes, according to the UN refugee agency, which warned of "a massive exodus" if fighting intensifies.
Local authorities in Lugansk have warned of a looming "humanitarian catastrophe" as water, food and fuel supplies have dried up.
And in Donetsk -- as fears mount of possible street-to-street combat through the city's tree-lined central avenues -- the remaining civilians were just praying for the nightmare to be over.
"We just want peace," said pharmacist Valentina, 45. "It doesn't matter who wins; the whites, the blacks, the reds. I just don't understand how you can go on killing like this."
Seven employees of a fitness centre huddled in its basement in the heart of rebel-held Donetsk on Thursday as the centre of the besieged city came under sustained shelling for first time.
Above them a mortar had torn a gaping hole in a wall of the spa complex, smashing all of the windows.
A security guard told AFP that no one was hurt, as the boom of artillery fire started up again.
Not far away one person was killed and two injured when the orthopaedic ward of a local hospital took a direct hit, local health authorities said.
The streets of Donetsk were deserted for the most part, but those still out were shocked by what was happening.
“Donetsk is being bombarded and the hospital was targeted,” said one of the few local residents to be seen.
“There were explosions this morning. This isn’t right,” he said, as he sat on a bench lighting a cigarette.
City authorities reported that mortar fire was exploding around a key rebel base inside the heavily fortified former regional headquarters of Ukraine’s SBU security agency.
The city council warned local residents “to get off the streets and seek shelter in a safe location”.
Ukraine’s troops are camped out around the edge of the million-strong industrial hub and have warned they are gearing up to retake the city from the heavily-armed rebels hunkered down there.
A military spokesman said they were conducting “offensive operations” against Donetsk and the second-largest rebel bastion of Lugansk.
Both government forces and rebels have been accused by the United Nations of firing heavy weapons into built-up areas, but both blame the other side.
Seven soldiers were killed and 19 injured in clashes across the east during the past 24 hours of fighting, the Ukrainian military said.
– ‘How can you kill like this?’ –
On the outskirts of Donetsk overnight, artillery fire killed three civilians and injured five more in the southeastern Budyonivsky district, city authorities said.
The mortar blasts damaged three apartment blocks and five houses, while shelling in a village on the western outskirts of the city also destroyed two houses but no casualties were reported, the city council said in a statement.
Authorities in the strategically important rebel-held city of Gorlivka — some 40 kilometres (25 miles) north of Donetsk — said that five civilians were killed and 10 injured there in clashes Thursday.
Almost four months of fighting has claimed the lives of some 1,300 people, with civilians bearing the brunt of the violence.
More than 285,000 people have also fled their homes, according to the UN refugee agency, which warned of “a massive exodus” if fighting intensifies.
Local authorities in Lugansk have warned of a looming “humanitarian catastrophe” as water, food and fuel supplies have dried up.
And in Donetsk — as fears mount of possible street-to-street combat through the city’s tree-lined central avenues — the remaining civilians were just praying for the nightmare to be over.
“We just want peace,” said pharmacist Valentina, 45. “It doesn’t matter who wins; the whites, the blacks, the reds. I just don’t understand how you can go on killing like this.”
