Top Ukrainian officials, including Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskiy, came under a shelling attack during a tour of the front line of the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.
The officials fled to a bomb shelter before leaving from the area. Maryan Kushnir, a correspondent for RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service who was also on the tour when the attack happened, said shells fell 300 meters from the location where the officials and journalists were visiting.
“Just now, they opened mortar fire at our interior minister,” Kushnir said in a video report from the scene of the attack.
Earlier, Russia-backed separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine ordered a full military mobilization amid growing invasion fears.
Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, the de facto heads of separatist-occupied regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, released separate statements on February 19 announcing a full troop mobilization and urging reservists to show up at military enlistment offices. Men aged 18 to 55 will no longer be allowed to leave the area.