Interfax: Truce coordinators travel to Donetsk airport to settle situation – Ukrainian military

KYIV. Dec 1 (Interfax) – The leaders of a joint center for control and coordination of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine have travelled to the Donetsk Airport where the situation has aggravated over the past 24 hours.

“This morning, Ukrainian and Russian leaders from the joint center have travelled to the area. The Ukrainian side is represented by Lt. Gen. Volodymyr Askarov; Russia, by Lt. Gen. Alexander Lentsov,” a spokesperson for the military operation in Donbas said on Monday.

The aim of the trip is to stop the storming of the strategic asset and to “reduce the tensions on both sides,” the spokesperson said.

According to the joint center, eleven instances of shelling at the airport had been registered by 1 p.m. local time (2 p.m. Moscow time) on Monday.

Earlier reports on social media said that the Ukrainian military, which are holding the Donetsk Airport, blew up the old terminal and retreated. At the same time, according to a source at Insider, a news website, the old terminal was destroyed as a result of artillery shelling by militias in the early hours of Monday.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council (SNBO) dismissed the reports about the surrender and the explosion of one of the terminals at Donetsk Airport.

SNBO spokesman Andriy Lysenko said at a briefing on Monday that despite attempts to storm the airport, the air hub, including its new and old terminals, remains under control of the Ukrainian army.

“No one was blowing anything up there, this information is untrue,” Lysenko said.

There is no sense in blowing up the old terminal as it is part of the defensive structures for the Ukrainian military, he said

“The airport will be held until we are told to leave it,” Lysenko said.