Five Ukrainian border guards killed strategic Mariupol city
- 10 years ago
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Five Ukrainian border guards have been shot dead and seven more are wounded.
They were caught in a shootout with separatists in the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, Ukraine's border guard service said.
The border guards were reportedly attacked by pro-Russian separatists on a bridge.
(SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ALEKSANDER, MARIUPOL RESIDENT, SAYING:
"It is said that vehicles were shot. (Paramedics) have just taken a dead body out of the border service vehicle."
Mariupol is a major port for steel export. It had been reclaimed by Ukrainian forces just a day before.
It is also a strategic point because it connects major roads from Russia to Ukraine.
The city of 500,000 has long been a focus of clashes, and it's changed hands several times over the course of the conflict.
Five Ukrainian border guards have been shot dead and seven more are wounded.
They were caught in a shootout with separatists in the eastern Ukrainian port city of Mariupol, Ukraine's border guard service said.
The border guards were reportedly attacked by pro-Russian separatists on a bridge.
(SOUNDBITE) (Russian) ALEKSANDER, MARIUPOL RESIDENT, SAYING:
"It is said that vehicles were shot. (Paramedics) have just taken a dead body out of the border service vehicle."
Mariupol is a major port for steel export. It had been reclaimed by Ukrainian forces just a day before.
It is also a strategic point because it connects major roads from Russia to Ukraine.
The city of 500,000 has long been a focus of clashes, and it's changed hands several times over the course of the conflict.