Army retreats at Donetsk airport

Ukraine’s defence ministry says its troops have withdrawn from the main terminal of Donetsk airport, the scene of bitter fighting in recent weeks.
It said the military retained control of parts of the airport, but that six soldiers had died and 16 were wounded.
In Donetsk itself, at least nine people were killed when a civilian bus was hit by shelling.
Fighting between the army and Russian-backed separatists has intensified in and around rebel-held Donetsk.
More than 4,800 people have been killed and some 1.2 million displaced since pro-Russian rebels seized parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions in April.
The rebel movements followed Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea peninsula in March.
The deaths come after Ukraine, Russia, France and Germany issued a joint call to end fighting in the east.
They also agreed on a line of demarcation between separatists and government forces from which both sides are meant to withdraw their forces, but so far this has not been carried out.

The airport just outside Donetsk, which is no longer in use, has taken on symbolic value for both separatists and the government.
Ukraine’s defence ministry said 20 Ukrainian soldiers had withdrawn from the main terminal because their positions were destroyed and they were under direct shelling.
The loss of the main terminal is a major blow to pro-Kiev forces and will send political shockwaves back to the capital, the BBC’s David Stern reports from Kiev.
It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the shelling of the bus, but the defense ministry blamed separatists, saying their own forces were 15km (9 miles) away.
Some reports, citing local officials, said that as many as 13 people had died.
Last week, 13 people were killed when a bus was struck by artillery fire in Buhas, south-west of Donetsk.
Ukraine says Russia has more than 9,000 soldiers fighting alongside the rebels, a claim that Moscow denies.
Source:bbc