A mounting toll

VLADIMIR PISKUNOV once had roses in his garden, red and white ones lining the patio. He once had tomatoes, ripening alongside the cherry trees. He once had a roof over his house. He once had a wife. All of that was wiped out late in the afternoon of July 12th, when three Grad rockets hit 15 Lyubovich Street on the western edge of Donetsk. One landed directly on his house, blasting a crater through its center and killing his wife Tatiana, who was clambering to the basement for safety.

Mr Piskunov holds the Ukrainian armed forces posted around the city responsible. The direction of the impact and the location of the Ukrainian positions suggest he may be right. But Ukrainian officials vehemently deny shelling residential areas. Instead, they blame rebel militias, accusing separatists of firing on peaceful people in an effort to turn the population against Kiev.

So it goes in the Donbas these days: specious accusations, inflamed rhetoric, and a steadily growing body count. After capturing the former rebel stronghold of Sloviansk, Ukraine's army has brought its “anti-terrorist operation” to eastern Ukraine's two biggest cities,...Continue reading