US blames Russia after rocket attacks in Ukraine kill at least 30

Barack Obama says current aggression was possible only 'with Russian backing, Russian equipment, Russian financing, Russian training and Russian troops'

Rescuers retrieve a piece of an exploded Grad missile after the shelling of Mariupol (AP)

The US placed the blame for recent violence in the Ukraine firmly on Russia on Sunday, hours after British efforts to agree a UN Security Council statement condemning the rebel forces were halted by a Russian veto.

Speaking at a news conference in Delhi, Barack Obama said the current aggression was possible only “with Russian backing, Russian equipment, Russian financing, Russian training and Russian troops”. The US would “continue to take the approach that we’ve taken in the past, which is to ratchet up the pressure on Russia”, President Obama said. The US is considering every kind of response short of military action, he added.

The EU has called an emergency meeting of its foreign ministers to take place on Thursday.

Sunday was a day of reflection and mourning across Ukraine, after rocket attacks on the south-eastern city of Mariupol killed at least 30 people over the weekend.

The attacks, which sprayed several dozen missiles across a busy residential area in the Ukrainian-held city, hit schools, 55 multi-storey residential blocks and a busy market. City authorities told The Independent that up to 12,000 people had been affected, suffering from powers cuts and far worse.

European observers at the scene concluded that Grad and Uragan-type rockets had been used in the “disgraceful” attack. Their clear-worded assessment also indicated that the missiles had originated from territories currently controlled by Russian-backed separatists.

Speaking to The Independent last Wednesday, the Ukrainian hostage negotiator Vladimir Ruban revealed that he was personally involved in the exchange of 13 Russian paratroopers, who supposedly “lost their way” well inside the borders of Ukraine.

International journalists have recorded similar encounters with lost Russian servicemen. The prevalence of modern military equipment across the region would certainly indicate the rebels have found a reliable military supply partner. Russian influence in rebel administrative structures is also barely concealed.

On Tuesday, The Independent spoke to a member of the Komendatura military police, who was wearing a Russian badge on his arm. Such insignia have become common as signs of affiliation or honour, but when asked why he was wearing it, Vasily replied simply: “It’s because I’m in the military police and that is Russia.” Vasily himself is from Donetsk, and his immediate superiors are from Donetsk but, he said, “everyone understands that the boss is Russia, and without them we would be fucked”.

Yet locals do seem to make up a large part of the fighting force, and the rebels enjoy a significant level of support, certainly among the more immobile parts of the population that remain in the city. Ukrainian claims that 9,000 regular Russian soldiers are currently fighting need serious substantiation, and in Mr Ruban’s opinion, are “unlikely”.

Compared with the death and destruction of Saturday, the situation in the region seemed much calmer yesterday. But, it would seem premature to assume that the relative calm is the indication of anything other than the opposing sides taking time to reflect, assess and analyse. “The silence is not something to be happy about,” said a local journalist, Igor Ivanov. “We’ve seen it so many times before, and it’s always been the prelude to something nasty.”

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s President said intercepted radio and phone conversations prove that Russian-backed separatists were responsible for the rockets that pounded Mariupol.

“The intercepted radio and phone conversations, which were given to me by Ukraine’s security services, irrefutably prove that the attack was conducted by the terrorists, who, unfortunately, are supported by Russia,” Petro Poroshenko said during an emergency meeting of his Security Council, according to a report by the Associated Press news agency.