Mail.comKIEV, Ukraine (AP) — The RIA Novosti news agency is citing eastern Ukrainian rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko as saying an offensive has begun on the strategic government-held port of Mariupol has begun.
Earlier Saturday, rockets rained down on Mariupol’s outskirts, killing at least 21 people, according to city authorities. The report came a day after the rebels rejected a peace deal and said they were going on a multi-prong offensive against the government in Kiev.
The news agency said Zakharchenko spoke Saturday as he laid a wreath at the site where at least eight civilians died when a bus stop was shelled in Donetsk, the largest rebel-held city in eastern Ukraine.