Police say at least 15 people have been reported killed by artillery shelling in Mariupol in eastern Ukraine. Kiev has blamed the militia, but the latter said they don't have weapons close enough to attack the city.

“Our militias have no weapon systems near Mariupol that would be able to shell that region. Our positions are simply too far away,” a spokesman for the Donetsk militia headquarters told RIA Novosti.

“According to our intelligence, the artillery fired from the Stariy Krim neighborhood [less than 10 kilometers from central Mariupol]. Ukrainian troops are stationed there. We believe it was a provocation committed by the Ukrainian troops,” the spokesman added.

The comment comes after a local Ukrainian Interior Ministry official accused their opponents of shelling the city some 110 kilometers south of the militia stronghold in Donetsk, and killing 15 civilians.