Donetsk residents hold rare anti-war protest criticising Ukraine rebels

Several hundred people in separatist stronghold joined a demonstration against the stationing of missile launchers in residential areas

Head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Alexander Zakharchenko leaves a meeting with locals in Donetsk yesterday

Residents of Donetsk, the stronghold of pro-Moscow separatists in eastern Ukraine, have staged a rare anti-war protest in the centre of the city.

Several hundred people gathered on Artem Street to demand that rebel forces withdrew missile launchers from residential areas of the city because their outgoing fire provokes a response from Ukrainian army artillery.

The city and surrounding areas have seen a surge in violence in recent weeks despite a ceasefire brokered by the leaders of France and Germany in February. More than 50 people have reportedly been killed this month.

Residents of Oktyabrki, a district of Donetsk, rally in front of the government building of the self-proclamated Donetsk People's Republic

Protesters chanted, "You are hiding behind our backs," and Shame!", according to AFP.

Residents of the city are furious about inaccurate Ukrainian shelling that often kills civilians but they also complain that rebel guns and launchers firing out from close to homes invite retaliation to the same areas.

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One woman at the protest on Monday told Euronews: “People were lost when they voted for the rebels and now they regret it because they screwed us, simply screwed us. That’s it, nobody cares about us and nobody understands us.”

An unidentified rebel fighter in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, on Monday, June 15, 2015, speaks to participants of a rally to demand an end to the violence

Alexander Zakharchenko, the separatists' leader, came out to speak to the crowd. He later said the gathering was an organised “provocation” and the questions he was asked were “simulated according to someone’s script”.

Many of the protesters were reportedly from the city’s Oktyabrsky district.

Negotiators from both sides of the conflict met as part of a “contact group” to discuss progress on the Minsk peace deal in Belarus on Tuesday. Denis Pushilin, a rebel representative, said there had been “some positive steps” but on the whole the talks were “unsatisfactory”.

By Tom Parfitt