Caught in the crossfire: Civilians among dozens killed in Donetsk as fighting continues across city and Ukraine vows to fight until 'not a single terrorist remains'

Up to 100 Pro-Moscow rebels 'may be dead' after fierce fighting in Donetsk

Pro-Russian rebels had taken over parts of the airport in eastern city

Air strikes came after Petro Poroshenko, 48, was named as new President



Chocolate magnate said he will not negotiate with 'terrorists' and 'bandits'



But Kremlin told Ukraine to end 'military operations against its own people'





Up to 100 people, including civilians and pro-Russian fighters, have been killed during a 24-hour bloodbath in the eastern Ukraine city of Donetsk.

Dozens of militants were reported dead in a furious battle for control of the airport in the key city of Donetsk where bodies were lying in the streets.



Pro-Moscow rebels said they may have up to 100 dead as morgues in the city struggled to cope with the shocking death toll. Other estimates put the death toll at closer to 50.



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A heavily armed pro-Russian rebel mans a newly erected barricade on the airport road. More than 50 insurgents were killed in an unprecedented assault by Ukrainian government forces

A Pro-Russian militia man walks at a check point on a road leading to the airport, in Donetsk just hours after violence had broken out in the area

A resident picks up a balaclava that belonged to a pro-Russian gunman, killed in gunfights with Ukrainian government forces. Gunshots were heard in to the night in and around the airport

People carry sand bags to set up a shooting position as a pro-Russian gunman watches on the road leading from the the airport

A wall of sand bags is stacked up to create a shooting position after a night of bloodshed in Donetsk

Violence erupted on Monday when rebels moved to seize the city airport and were repelled by Ukraine forces which used combat jets and helicopter gunships.



It came as the Kiev government sought to wipe out pro-Russian insurgents amid claims of Stalinist-style executions of rebel deserters.

In chilling scenes, there were claims several rebel commanders had been 'sentenced to death by shooting' with notices saying the 'executions' were conducted under a law enacted by Stalin's Supreme Soviet during the Second World War.



An order from the separatist militia in Donetsk claimed that 'commanders' Dmitry Slavov and Nikolay Lukyanov had been executed by a shot to the head.

Two other officers of Gorkovka police were also 'shot dead in front of all other policemen for betraying Donetsk Republic', it was reported.

The orders to execute were signed by Igor Strelkov, real surname Girkin, who is claimed by the Ukrainians to be a Russian career intelligence officer.

The rebel commanders were accused of "abandonment of combat positions" under a Stalin law dated 22 June 1941.

Journalists witnessed sustained intensive gun fire throughout the day and into the night. Plumes of black smoke rose in the air.

The body of a pro-Russian gunman killed in clashes with the government forces around the airport lies on a stretcher at the morgue in Donetsk The body of a pro-Russian gunman killed during clashes lies on the pavement outside the morgue in Donetsk

An elderly couple survey the scene of a wrecked truck, destroyed during fighting that has so far claimed the lives of at least 50 people, the majority of them pro-Russian fighters

A lorry toppled during the clashes between Ukranian soldiers and pro-Russians separatists in Donetsk

Officials closed the airport, and police shut nearby streets for traffic.



'From our side, there are more than 50 (dead),' the prime minister of the rebels' self-styled Donetsk People's Republic, Alexander Borodai, told reporters from hospital.'

Another official Denis Pushilin said the figure was likely to reach 100, half of them civilians, with dozens more wounded.



Deputy premier Vitaly Yarema said the 'anti-terrorist operation' in eastern Ukraine will go on 'until all the militants are annihilated.'

Ukraine used air strikes and a paratrooper assault on Monday to clear rebels from Donetsk's international airport and had pushed the separatists out of the complex by the end of the day.

'The (separatist) fighters who had been in the terminal have been eliminated,' a spokesman for the government's 'anti-terrorist operation' said, indicating the airport was now under control of government forces. The body of a Ukrainian soldier, killed in the clashes between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian soldiers in Karlovka town, is taken to his hometown, in Zaporizhia, Ukraine This is the funeral ceremony organised for the Ukrainian soldier in the town of Karlovka today But shooting continued through the night and by mid-morning machine gun fire could be heard on one of the main roads leading to the airport. On Tuesday, Arsen Avakov, the interior minsiter, said the airport was 'completely under control', adding 'The adversary suffered heavy losses. We have no losses.' But it was plain that Kiev was struggling for control despite a heavy use of force.

The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe said it had lost contact with a four-member team in Donetsk after they were held at a checkpoint. Miners went on strike against the military operation by the Kiev authorities, while in the war zone of Slavyansk there were calls to evacuate children from the carnage.

But Vitaly Yarema, the first deputy prime minister, added: 'We'll continue the anti-terrorist operation until not a single terrorist remains on the territory of Ukraine.' A boy walks by as firefighters attempt to extinguish a fire at the ice hockey arena 'Druzhba' in Donetsk, today. An armed group broke into the stadium in the early hours of May 27, set it on fire and left taking along some property of the stadium with them, it has been claimed The gutted shell of the city's ice hockey arena after an unidentified gang stormed in to t he building and set it ablaze this morning. The ice hockey arena belongs to Ukrainian lawmaker Boris Kolesnikov A woman surveys the shell of a burnt out building destroyed during Monday's violence near the Donetsk airport In the city itself, a four-storey hockey stadium was set ablaze, though firefighters now have the blaze under control. A Kamaz truck of the type rebels use to ferry their fighters was wrecked on the airport road, covered in blood and completely riddled with bullet holes.

Blood had spattered across the entire roadway and even reached a billboard seven metres above. Outside the city centre, another Kamaz was flipped over, its deck covered in blood.

The Kremlin said today that President Vladimir Putin called for an end to the military campaign and for dialogue between Kiev and the separatists. Mr Putin was speaking in a telephone call with Italy's prime minister, his first reported comments on Ukraine since Sunday's election.

The battle came just as billionaire candy magnate Petro Poroshenko claimed victory in Sunday's presidential vote. On the run: Journalists flee from the fighting outside the airport amid tensions unseen since the Cold War Caught in the crossfire: A civilian was forced to run for cover amid fighting near the airport Strike: A Ukrainian helicopter Mi-24 gunship fires its cannons against rebels at the main terminal of Donetsk airport. Pro-Russian rebels descended on the area, leading to a battle lasting several hours