Ukrainian soldiers have recovered 15 bodies from Monday's attack on a refugee convoy in the eastern Luhansk region, a spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council said Tuesday, reports GHN based on CNN
Col. Andriy Lysenko told a press briefing in Kiev that there are more casualties but Ukrainian forces are being prevented from recovering them by "fighting in the area which is still controlled by the separatists."
The Ukrainian military said Monday that civilians, including women and children, had been killed in the attack on the caravan of refugees.
The civilians were trying to escape fighting between pro-Russian rebels and the Ukrainian military but were not in an established humanitarian safety corridor when they came under fire, a military representative said.
Lysenko said Tuesday that the convoy was traveling from Luhansk to Lutuhyne, which is controlled by the Ukrainian government, when it was attacked.
Militants are blocking access to the area of the destroyed convoy and are shooting at all vehicles in the area, he said.
Meanwhile, fierce fighting continues for control of the city of Luhansk, a stronghold for pro-Russian rebels.
The Ukrainian military has retaken one district, Lysenko said, and there is street fighting in the city center.
The ongoing fighting -- sparked by a political crisis over whether Ukraine would seek closer ties with Europe or Russia -- has left more than 2,000 people dead and just under 5,000 wounded in eastern Ukraine since mid-April, according to estimates from U.N. officials.
Humanitarian agencies say thousands of people in the Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk regions don't have access to water, electricity and proper medical aid.