One day after parliamentary elections in Ukraine, shelling rocks Donetsk outskirts
Members of a local electoral commission count ballots in a polling station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk on Oct. 26, 2014, after the country’s parliamentary elections.
Heavy shelling rocked the outskirts of the pro-Russian rebel stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine on Monday, one day after Ukraine held a parliamentary election, the city mayor's office and officials in Kyiv said.
"Powerful firing has been heard from high-calibre guns and explosions," the Donetsk mayor's website said.
Despite a Sept. 5 ceasefire between Kyiv and pro-Russian separatists in the east, tensions remain high.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said he would start talks on forging a coalition in parliament on Monday following an election that exit polls showed was dominated by his own political bloc and other pro-Western forces.
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Poroshenko told a news conference the final result of Sunday's election was expected in 10 days and this was long enough to complete the talks. He said he would nominate a prime minister proposed by the coalition that took shape.
Russia's reaction
The election in Ukraine offers a chance for peace in the country's east, a deputy Russian foreign minister said on Monday but warned that "nationalists" in the chamber could undermine the process, RIA news agency reported.
"Parties supporting a peaceful resolution of the internal Ukrainian crisis won a majority. This gives them a new chance to return to the agreements made, first and foremost, in Minsk," Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin said, referring to agreements made by Kyiv, Moscow and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Kyiv and the West blame Moscow for destabilizing Ukraine by supporting and arming the rebels as well as reinforcing them with Russian troops. Moscow denies taking part in the armed conflict.
"The fact that openly nationalistic and chauvinistic forces won considerable support and will be represented in the Rada (parliament) creates an additional threat that again calls will sound … for the use of force, for bloodshed," Karasin added.
"That is extremely dangerous."
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