Lethal rocket strike in Sloviansk as Russia moves on Donbas

By ELENA BECATOROS
Associated Press

SLOVIANSK, Ukraine (AP) — Blood smears the stairwell floor and the shards of glass strewn about while shrapnel pockmarks the walls. Outside, a crater between two apartment blocks marks the spot where the rocket hit in the very early hours of Tuesday morning in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk. Authorities said three people were killed and six were wounded. Sloviansk, in the eastern Donetsk region, was briefly taken over by Moscow-backed separatists in 2014. Now it is once more in Moscow’s sights as part of its effort to seize the entire Donetsk and neighboring Luhansk region, which together make up the Donbas.