Heavy Shelling Heard In Rebel-Held Donetsk

Heavy shelling has hit close to the centre of Ukraine's separatist-held city of Donetsk, according to witnesses.

People poured out of their offices onto the stairwell of the city's main administration building after loud explosions nearby triggered an evacuation warning, reports said.

Donetsk has been surrounded for several weeks by Ukrainian forces battling pro-Russian rebels.

The Russain aid convoy has turned towards Luhansk

The shelling follows the resignation of pro-Russian separatist leader Valery Bolotov, head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic.

The resignation came as a Russian aid convoy resumed its journey toward Ukraine, taking the road leading south towards rebel-held Luhansk.

It also came as Vladimir Putin said Russia would do its utmost to stop the bloodshed in Ukraine.

During a visit to Crimea, Mr Putin also said that Russia should not "fence itself off from the outside world" despite a plunge in East-West relations.

Self-styled mayor of Luhansk, Valery Bolotov, says he has been injured

As well as the shelling in Donetsk, fighting has killed at least 22 residents in the besieged rebel-held bastion of Luhansk over the past 24 hours.

The Russian aid convoy of roughly 262 vehicles had been parked at a military depot in the southern Russian city of Voronezh since late on Tuesday.

There has been confusion and disagreement over how and where the aid could be delivered to Ukraine, where government troops are battling pro-Russia separatists.

By sending the convoy south, Russia appeared intent on not abiding by a tentative agreement to deliver aid to a border checkpoint in the Kharkiv region.

Vladimir Putin says he wants to end the bloodshed in Ukraine

It had been hoped that the convoy would arrive in the Kharkiv region, so that the Red Cross could inspect the convoy.

Instead, the route taken by the convoy leads directly toward a border crossing controlled by pro-Russian rebels in the Luhansk region.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has accused Moscow of planning a "direct invasion of Ukrainian territory under the guise of delivering humanitarian an aid".

Moscow has insisted it coordinated the dispatch of the goods - including baby food, canned meat and sleeping bags - with Red Cross officials.

Red Cross spokeswoman Anastasia Isyuk said talks between the organisation, Ukraine and Russia were continuing.

A Russian soldier stands guard at the Kharkiv checkpoint

But she could not confirm where the Russian convoy was headed.

"The plans keep changing, the discussions are going ahead and we will not confirm for sure until we know an agreement has been reached," Ms Isyuk said in Geneva.

Luhansk, where Mr Bolotov had declared himself "mayor", has been the scene of intense fighting between Ukrainian forces and separatists.

Mr Bolotov said Igor Plotnitsky, defence minister of the Luhansk People's Republic, would take over from him.

Luhansk has been the scene of intense fighting

His resignation means that both the main separatist entities, in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine, are having leadership changes.

On August 7, Aleksander Borodai, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, announced he was stepping down.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine has intensified in recent weeks, with UN officials saying there has been a spike in the number of deaths.

Some 2,086 people have died since the conflict began in mid-April, and more than half of them in the past fortnight, the UN said.

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