Russia-Ukraine conflict: Top officials of Ukrainian military come under shelling attack

The officials fled to a bomb shelter before hustling from the area. A journalist from The Associated Press was on the tour.

Associated PressUpdated: Saturday, February 19, 2022, 08:57 PM IST

Russia-Ukraine conflict: Top officials of Ukrainian military come under shelling attack

This handout video grab released by the Russian Defence Ministry on February 19, 2022, shows a Russian paratropper during a joint exercise of the armed forces of Russia and Belarus as part of an inspection of the Union States Response Force, at the Obuz-Lesnovsky firing range near the city of Baranovichi in Belarus. - Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, an ally of Moscow, said on February 17, 2022 that his country would be ready to welcome "nuclear weapons" in the event of a threat from the West, in the midst of a crisis in Ukraine. | AFP PHOTO/ RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTRY

Top Ukrainian military officials came under a shelling attack during a tour of the front of the separatist conflict in eastern Ukraine.

The officials fled to a bomb shelter before hustling from the area. A journalist from The Associated Press was on the tour.

Earlier Saturday, separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine ordered a full military mobilization Saturday amid a spike of violence in the war-torn region and fears in the West that Russia might use the strife as a pretext for an invasion.