Miners Rally in Favor of Separatists in Eastern Ukraine

A day after Kiev unleashed warplanes and paratroopers against the separatists in a major offensive that killed at least 50 rebels, the miners marched through Donetsk city center to demand the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces from the region.

There were no reports of fresh clashes on Wednesday, but local residents reported a burst of gunfire coming from the area of the regional state security service building which is occupied by separatists.

"Kiev does not rule us any more, we will no longer accept that," separatist leader Denis Pushilin told the miners, who had been bussed in from around the Donbass coalfield, as a Ukrainian fighter jet roared overhead, Reuters reported.

The protesters, from Ukraine's largest mine workers' union, waved DNR flags and banners that read "We will revive the power of the Donbass". The Donbass, comprising coal mines and steel mills, is Ukraine's industrial heartland.

"I want peace and to be able to work and make money. I want the occupying soldiers to leave and return to their Kiev junta," said Valery, who works at the state-owned Abakumova mine.

He said the miners backed the DNR, which was declared after a makeshift referendum on May 11 condemned by Kiev and the West.

Echoing Russia, the separatists often refer to Kiev's pro-Western authorities as "fascists" who they say seized power illegally after mass street protests toppled Ukraine's Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich in February.

The separatists prevented voters in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk from taking part in Ukraine's presidential election on Sunday, which brought to power Petro Poroshenko, who favors closer economic and political ties with the West.