ANTI-KIEV rebels in eastern Ukraine claimed today that they were still in firm control of Donetsk airport after days of intense fighting.

“All attempts of the Ukrainian army to take the airport and to get revenge for the defeat of the last year … have failed,” rebel leader Alexander Zakharchenko told a Donetsk press conference.

He accused Ukraine of using artillery fire with an intensity that rebel forces had “never experienced before.”

The city was shaken by heavy fire over the weekend as a battle raged for the air terminal.

Kiev presidential adviser Yuriy Biryukov said on Sunday: “Today we will show just how much we can smash their teeth in.”

But he changed his tune today.

Mr Biryukov wrote that wounded soldiers had been evacuated overnight.

He did not say how many troops remained but insisted: “We will not abandon our own.”

“Everything will be ours, but just not right away.”