RESIDENTS in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka angrily confronted police yesterday after an armoured military vehicle struck and killed an eight-year-old girl.

Although now under government control, Kostyantynivka was part of the anti-Kiev People’s Republic of Donetsk for almost three months last year.

Many residents retain sympathies for the anti-fascist separatist forces that the government is fighting.

Clashes broke out on Monday night, hours after the child was killed, in front of a dormitory commandeered by the pro-Kiev occupation forces.

Enraged crowds turned over a police car and set fire to a bus. Authorities claimed to have detained the ringleaders of the unrest.

Donetsk region head of police Vyacheslav Abroskin, who rushed to Kostyantynivka on Tuesday in a bid to soothe tempers, was met by more than 50 people, including mothers with small children, at the scene of the child’s death.

Many vented their frustration at what they said was the frequently drunken conduct of soldiers in the town.

“It has become dangerous to walk around. We have seen it all before. Military vehicles drive very fast here and there all the time,” said resident Alexander Tsibulyev.

At a later gathering, an even larger crowd shouted demands for all troops to leave.

Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said that troops in charge of the light-armoured tow vehicle involved in the crash were among several people under investigation and that their commander had been suspended.

“The case is being supervised personally by the chief military prosecutor and the president of Ukraine,” he said.

by Our Foreign Desk