UPDATE: At Least Two Dead in Donetsk, Ukraine and Russia Trucks Spotted at Border

UPDATE: At Least Two Dead in Donetsk, Ukraine and Russia Trucks Spotted at Border

*UPDATE 1:45PM* Fighting in Donetsk resumed after a storm cleared the area. AFP reporter Paul Gypteau found a beheaded woman in front of the train station.

Donetsk Mayor Oleksandr Lukyanchenko told residents not to leave their homes.

According to Hromadske TV, 40 Russian trucks were found near Russia’s border and appeared to be ready to cross the border into Donetsk.

*UPDATE 11:41AM* One civilian was killed by a stray bullet at the airport. The male parking lot attendant was not identified. Shops and restaurants in Donetsk are closed and the pro-Russians took over the train station. The Kyiv Post posted this video:

Businessman Petro Poroshenko is Ukraine’s new president, but that did not stop the pro-Russian forces in the east. The rebels took over the Donetsk airport’s international terminal and forced flight cancellations.

“At 3:00 in the morning, a group of armed men came. There was no shooting and they demanded that soldiers guarding the perimeter of the airport be withdrawn,” said airport spokesman Dmytro Kosinov.

The airport stopped all flights at 7AM and is now controlled by the “Donetsk People’s Republic,” which was formed after a May 11 referendum. The DPR claimed 90% of the residents in Donetsk voted for independence from Kyiv, but the referendum was beleaguered with numerous voting violations.

The Telegraph reported:

An AFP reporter saw three trucks full of armed men in camouflage and some wearing orange-and-black St George ribbons representing an allegiance to Russia pass a police checkpoint and head toward the airport.

They were followed by two sports utility vehicles with tinted windows.

Here are a few pictures journalists and citizens tweeted of the airport:

Two journalists, Roland Oliphant with The Telegraph and Christopher Miller with The Kyiv Post, are live tweeting about the airport from Donetsk.

Ukraine held a historic presidential election on Sunday, but the people in Donetsk and the majority of the east were not allowed to vote due to intimidation by the pro-Russian forces. The city of Donetsk is Ukraine’s second largest city and no polling stations were open. “Chocolate King” Poroshenko won with over 50% of the vote and he told the pro-Russians to put down their weapons to engage in dialogue with Kyiv.

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