A pro-Kiev protester was stabbed and killed Thursday in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, in the first death since tensions began in the southeast of the country with Russia's advance in Crimea.
The 22-year-old was killed as demonstrators were attacked by a pro-Moscow rally, health services said.
"According to preliminary conclusions by doctors, he has been stabbed," the local branch of Ukraine's health ministry told AFP, as regional authorities spoke of another 16 wounded in the clashes.
Thirteen of these were in trauma or in surgery with serious injuries, one was hospitalised and two could be treated at the scene, Ilya Suzdalev, a spokesman for the regional authorities, said.
Some 1,000 pro-Kiev had rallied in the eastern Ukrainian city, once a bastion of support for ousted president Viktor Yanukovych, when they were attacked by participants in a 2,000-strong pro-Moscow rally, which broke through a police cordon, the local health ministry said.
It was not clear which side the wounded belonged to.
The death was the first in Ukraine's crisis since Russian forces took control over the strategic southern peninsula of Crimea. Violent clashes over three months of protest resulted in over 100 deaths in Ukraine before the ousting of the pro-Moscow government last month.
Donetsk has been the site of major protests over the last week, with previous rallies already resulting in all-out punch-ups, while protesters also stormed the regional government building.
A pro-Kiev protester was stabbed and killed Thursday in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk, in the first death since tensions began in the southeast of the country with Russia’s advance in Crimea.
The 22-year-old was killed as demonstrators were attacked by a pro-Moscow rally, health services said.
“According to preliminary conclusions by doctors, he has been stabbed,” the local branch of Ukraine’s health ministry told AFP, as regional authorities spoke of another 16 wounded in the clashes.
Thirteen of these were in trauma or in surgery with serious injuries, one was hospitalised and two could be treated at the scene, Ilya Suzdalev, a spokesman for the regional authorities, said.
Some 1,000 pro-Kiev had rallied in the eastern Ukrainian city, once a bastion of support for ousted president Viktor Yanukovych, when they were attacked by participants in a 2,000-strong pro-Moscow rally, which broke through a police cordon, the local health ministry said.
It was not clear which side the wounded belonged to.
The death was the first in Ukraine’s crisis since Russian forces took control over the strategic southern peninsula of Crimea. Violent clashes over three months of protest resulted in over 100 deaths in Ukraine before the ousting of the pro-Moscow government last month.
Donetsk has been the site of major protests over the last week, with previous rallies already resulting in all-out punch-ups, while protesters also stormed the regional government building.
