MOSCOW. Oct 3 (Interfax) - Andrei Purgin, first deputy premier of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), has confirmed the death of an International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) employee in an artillery strike targeting the center of Donetsk.
"[The Ukrainian army] used Uragan multiple-launch rocket systems today. One of the shells landed near the Red Cross office. One of the Red Cross [employees] was killed. A residential building on Mira Avenue in Donetsk was hit as well," Purgin told the Rossiya 24 television station.
"More than 20 people were killed and over 50 were injured" as a result of artillery strikes in Donetsk on Thursday, he said.
The International Committee of the Red Cross in Ukraine earlier reported the death of its employee in Donetsk.
One of our office staff members has been killed as a result of a shelling in Donetsk today. We are working to notify his family about the tragic incident, an ICRC spokesperson told Interfax on Thursday evening.
The victim is the deputy head of the ICRC Donetsk mission, Etienne Laurent, an Interfax correspondent said. His body is now at the Kalinin morgue in Donetsk.