After a month of moderate peace, the
battle between Russia-backed rebels and government troops in eastern Ukraine
resumed in January, with more than two hundred people being killed in the past
three weeks. On Wednesday, February 4, 2015, substantial shelling in the rebel
stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine killed at least five people. Not only
were five lives taken but the shelling also caused damage to a hospital, six
schools and five kindergartens. The casualties have not been confirmed from the
west part of Donetsk but a rebel-ran Donetsk News Agency reported five deaths
in and around a hospital in the Tekstilshchik district. A witness to the
shelling reported six or seven explosions, describing the attack as extremely
terrifying. European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini has ordered the extraction of heavy weaponry
from Ukrainian cities and a truce for at least three days to guarantee the safe
evacuation of civilians from the conflict zone. Although there have been
several cries for a truce in eastern Ukraine in the past week, the
communication collapsed on Saturday. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is
reaching out to U.S. President Barack Obama in hopes that the United States
will aid the Ukraine by sending weapons. Poroshenko will have the opportunity
to present his case to U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry on Thursday.
The report also states that four
civilians lost their lives in the days prior to Wednesday’s shelling. Something
that I will never understand is why innocent civilians have to lose their lives
within these conflicts. As the conflict rises, the number of civilian
casualties is skyrocketing. Bombing hospitals, schools, and kindergartens is
attacking the weak. How are children supposed to defend, protect, or even know
what is going on?
Brittany Schrum
February 4, 2015
2:40PM
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