Ukraine crisis: Army retreats at Donetsk airport Published duration 22 January 2015 Related Topics Ukraine conflict

media caption Drone footage filmed on Sunday shows the war-torn remains of Donetsk's airport

Ukrainian troops have withdrawn from Donetsk airport's main terminal, scene of bitter fighting in recent weeks.

The government said the military still retained control of parts of the airport, but six soldiers had died and 16 had been wounded.

In the centre of the rebel-held city, shelling hit a bus, killing 13 people.

A spokesman for the president said he had called an emergency meeting to discuss the rebel attacks, which Kiev believes are backed by Russia.

It was the second such meeting of the day.

"The plan how we will secure the end of operation of terrorist troops with the participation of regular troops of the Russian Federation... how to regroup forces and stop the aggression" will be adopted on Wednesday evening, Reuters news agency quoted President Petro Poroshenko as saying.

Earlier rebels paraded captured Ukrainian soldiers at the scene of the bus shelling, as onlookers shouted abuse and pelted them with debris from the blast site.

The rebels and the government traded blame for the attack, which comes nine days after a shell also killed 13 people on a bus in the village of Buhas outside Volnovakha, 35km (22 miles) south-west of Donetsk.

Ukraine: the human cost

image copyright AP

Some 5.2 million people live in conflict-affected areas and 1.4 million are considered "highly vulnerable and in need of assistance"

More than a million people have fled their homes with 633,523 living as displaced persons within Ukraine and 593,622 living outside Ukraine, mostly in Russia

More than 4,800 people have been killed in the fighting and at least 10,322 have been injured, including at least 102 children

Source: UN report of 9 January for refugee figures; news reports for casualty estimates

Fighting between the army and Russian-backed separatists has intensified in and around Donetsk as well as further east in Luhansk region.

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.

image copyright Reuters image caption Ukrainian soldiers manning a checkpoint at Kostyantynivka, north of Donetsk city

image copyright AFP image caption Rebel armoured vehicles could be seen driving towards Donetsk on Thursday

Analysis: Sarah Rainsford, BBC News, Moscow

Fighting in eastern Ukraine flared up last week shortly before a supposed "peace summit". Both sides seemed to be battling for new ground, keen to strengthen their negotiating positions. Instead, the violence derailed the talks.

This conflict is costing Ukraine dearly, financially and in lives lost. But Ukrainian President Poroshenko has called up more troops, vowing to "get Donbass back".

Russia is also paying a high price for supporting the insurgents, under Western sanctions. Perhaps that is why this week Moscow said it had persuaded the rebels to pull back from the original ceasefire line.

But events on the ground move fast. And beyond the politics, this fight has become deeply personal. So much blood has now been spilled that whatever sparked the latest violence, it is becoming increasingly difficult to stop.

media caption "It does remind us how this conflict is escalating," reports David Stern in Kiev

'Saboteurs'

The airport just outside Donetsk, which has been reduced to rubble, has taken on symbolic value for both separatists and the government over the winter.

Ukraine's defence ministry said 20 Ukrainian soldiers had withdrawn from the main terminal because their positions had been 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.

The defence ministry blamed separatists for the shelling of the trolleybus in the city centre, saying their own forces were 15km away. But the rebels blamed pro-government "saboteurs" in the city.

Captured Ukrainian soldiers were led to the blast site by rebels who appeared to do little to stop people hitting them.

"They have to be punished, like Saddam Hussein," pensioner and local resident Zina told AFP news agency. "They are killers. They killed our children. Our children cry every day."

But another pensioner, Lyuda, said she was "ashamed of what is happening". "I have pity for them," she said, weeping. They are victims of [Ukrainian President ] Poroshenko. They are not guilty, they were sent here."

image copyright EPA image caption The interior of the bus in Donetsk after it was hit by shells

image copyright Christopher Miller image caption @Mashable correspondent Christopher Miller tweeted photos and video of the prisoners being paraded by the rebels after the bus attack in Donetsk

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov blamed Ukrainian forces for what he called a "monstrous new crime" and a "coarse provocation".

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 insurrection began after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula in March - weeks after Ukraine's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych had been 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."