Ukraine crisis: 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Ukraine's defence ministry says its troops have withdrawn from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.
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withdrawn from the main terminal because their positions were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 defence 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.
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 - weeks after Ukraine's pro-Russian
President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted.
There have been reports of fighting in recent days near the town of
Slovyanoserbsk, north-west of Luhansk - an indication that
violence is spreading beyond the Donetsk region.
Ukraine says Russia has more than 9,000 soldiers fighting
alongside the rebels, a claim that Moscow denies.
Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday there
had been a recent build up in the numbers of Russian tanks and
other heavy military equipment in eastern Ukraine.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich repeated
Russian denials of intervention in Ukraine.
"We know that there are some Russians that fight on the side of
those regions in Ukraine - some people that are coming on their
own and fight," he told the BBC.
"We're trying to make sure that those people [in eastern Ukraine]
are protected and to preserve their rights," he said. "We need a
peaceful Ukraine."