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"DONETSK, Ukraine \u2014 An eerie and uneasy calm washed over the embattled eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Wednesday, two days after government forces bombarded separatist fighters with airstrikes in the largest military assault since the crisis here began more than a month ago.\nMilitary helicopters and at least one fighter jet fired strafed the heavily armed fighters of the self-declared Donetsk People\u2019s Republic on Monday, after they had besieged the city\u2019s international airport with machine guns and rockets, killing as many as 50 of them, separatist leaders said. Doctors and an investigator at Donetsk\u2019s Kalinina morgue on Tuesday told Mashable that the number of fighter killed was between 33 and 45.\nSee also: Ukraine's New President: Can a Candy King Lead a Post-Revolutionary Nation?\nUkrainian authorities said none of the country's soldiers were killed or wounded in the gunfight. But a self-appointed \"prime minister\" of the breakaway republic told journalists in an impromptu press conference at the Ramada hotel on Wednesday that the government\u2019s forces had sustained \u201Cas many casualties and maybe more\u201D than the rebels.\n\nAlexander Borodai, prime minister of self-declared Supreme Council of Donetsk People's Republic, in a news conference on Wednesday in Donetsk. Image:  Evgeny Feldman,  MashableHe rolled up to the hotel late Wednesday afternoon backed by at least three vans of gunmen from the pro-Russian Vostok Battalion. Armed with Kalashnikovs, the group took position atop the hotel\u2019s roof and around its perimeter at street level. Their presence made hotel management and many guests uneasy. Several scattered back to their rooms while others sprinted across the street upon the battalion\u2019s arrival.\nOne gunman tried to put bystanders at ease, saying with a wave and a grin, \u201CYour protectors have arrived.\u201D\nThe strange scene highlighted the tense and pervading mood in the city.\nDonetsk\u2019s streets remain mostly empty with nearly all central businesses \u2014 including the main Donetsk Citi shopping mall that's typically teeming with stiletto-wearing bottle blondes -\u2013 shuttered.\nSome boarded up their windows with large sheets of plywood. Two McDonald\u2019s restaurants posted notes on their doors that explained the company had chosen to close \u201Cbecause we cannot ensure the safety of our workers and customers.\u201D\n\n\nCentral #Donetsk a ghost town this evening. Some shops even boarded up their windows. Eerie how quiet, empty it is. pic.twitter.com/7TuEeQ8PEp\u2014 Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) May 27, 2014\n\n\u00A0\nDonetsk\u2019s mayor, Oleksander Lukianchenko, who has remarkably remained in the city and continued his work for the Ukrainian government, pleaded with residents to stay inside their homes and remain away from windows as sporadic gunfire from a concentrated area near the airport rang out, and military fighter jets roared overhead.\nThe Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in a statement that the raucous was an attack by separatist forces using mortars, assault rifles and sniper rifles to target a surface-to-air missile unit at the Ukrainian-held airport. No troops were injured, the ministry said.\nIn a separate incident, gunshots rang out at the separatist-held security services building, sending passers-by fleeing for cover in a nearby electronics store. One woman lost a shoe as she sprinted to the doors.\nThe incident prompted some curious residents to poke their heads out from apartment windows, if only for a brief look.\nAround the city, separatists fortified existing barricades and erected new ones, filling sandbags and stacking them at an intersection on a main street leading to the airport. Later, men strung new razor wire over them and placed more out on the street.\nThey trucked in cement blocks and stacked them up to reinforce another blockade some 300 meters ahead that might stop Ukrainian armored vehicles from entering the city center. They also towed the remains of a Kamaz truck decimated on Monday by helicopter fired to the scene and placed it near the blocks. As if that wasn\u2019t enough, the separatists brought in a dilapidated tractor to stand nearby.\n\n\nRebel truck hit by #Ukraine military helo gunfire &amp; flipped on side has been brought to rebel roadblock near airport pic.twitter.com/y9n56jJTKg\u2014 Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) May 28, 2014\n\n\u00A0\nMeanwhile, the self-declared republic\u2019s leader, Denis Pushilin, appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin for \u201Chelp and support\u201D to \u201Crestore peace\u201D to Donetsk.\n\u201CThe residents of the Donetsk People\u2019s Republic are on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe,\u201D Pushilin said. \u201CWe are Russians and this is precisely why they are killing us. We want to become part of Russia.\u201D\n\n\nSelf-declared #Donetsk People's Republic makes \"official\" appeal to #Putin for \"help and support... to restore peace\" http://t.co/zG2jrWSG9W\u2014 Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) May 28, 2014\n\n\u00A0\nPutin has ignored previous requests by the separatists\u2019 who want him to bring the fledgling self-declared republic into Moscow\u2019s fold. Following Sunday\u2019s presidential elections, in which businessman Petro Poroshenko won by a landslide, the Russian leader said he was willing to sit down with the new head of state to discuss a solution to the crisis in Ukraine, which Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said was verging on \u201Cthe abyss of fratricidal war.\u201D\nSee also: Photos: Voters in Eastern Ukraine Defy Separatists and Head to Polls\nLavrov on Wednesday reiterated his call for Kiev to halt its military offensive while his ministry asked for permission to send humanitarian aid to residents in the restive eastern region.\nAs dusk fell over Donetsk later on Wednesday, the few pedestrians that were left on the street hurried to catch the last buses home. Pushilin had announced that a curfew would be imposed in the self-declared republic \u2014 starting now, nobody's allowed outdoors between the hours of 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.\n\nA pro-Russian separatist holds his rifle in Donetsk on May 28. Image:  Evgeny Feldman,  MashableWhile Pushilin did not clarify what might become of those who dared to test the curfew, one separatist fighter from the Vostok Battalion who asked to be identified only as Alexander, explained to Mashable that his comrades reserved the right to detain and perhaps even shoot anyone who ignores the order.\n\u201COf course we will first issue a warning [a person on the street after dark],\u201D he said. \u201CBut we have orders to shoot \u2014 and we\u2019ll do it if necessary.\u201D\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/05/28/eastern-ukraine-rebels-donetsk-airport/>