YASYNUVATA: Alexandra swept up glass outside the bank where she works in a small town in eastern Ukraine where fires still burned a hour after rockets rained down on its centre.
"It was exactly at 3pm," the elderly woman in a flowered housecoat told AFP. "There was smoke everywhere, everything was on fire. It was scary, the building has no ceiling now."
The small town of Yasynuvata lies some 15 kilometres (9 miles) north of rebel bastion Donetsk in eastern Ukraine where government troops are waging a fierce battle to unseat the pro-Russian separatists.
As residents worked busily to put out the flames, they were in no doubt over who was to blame for the destruction.
"It's the first time they've bombed the centre so severely," said local resident Yelena. "It's all the Ukrainian army. They'll just kill us."
Four apartment buildings were severely damaged and smoke was still billowing out from charred stalls in the central market when AFP reporters arrived at the scene.
An explosion had torn through the roof of the bank, while a nearby nine-storey apartment block had a huge hole on the sixth floor. Lower down on the same building, another impact hole was visible, surrounded by charred marks.
Stall holders at the market selling clothes and household goods were scooping water from gutters to help put out the fire.
"People were working here, people were trading," said the market's director, who refused to give her name.
Residents said several had been injured, including a woman who was hit by a tree. There were also reports of at least one death -- a 15-year-old boy who some said had died in a fire. Firefighters at the scene declined to comment.
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