15 bodies recovered following rocket strike on refugee convoy in Ukraine

Fifteen bodies have been recovered from the site of a rocket strike on a refugee convoy in Ukraine as further searches go on in the hope of finding more people reported missing.

A military spokesman was quoted by international media, saying that the bodies were retrieved on Monday night.

"By 7pm last night we retrieved 15 bodies. The search continued into the night and is continuing today," said spokesman Andriy Lysenko.

Ukrainian government forces have blamed the attack on pro-Russian separatists; the rebels have denied responsibility. Kiev’s military said insurgents using Russia-supplied weapons shelled adults and children in a convoy with white flags on a road from the restive city of Luhansk. It is understood that the convoys were evacuating civilians from the towns of Svitlivka and Khrashchuvate which lie along the main road leading from besieged Luhansk and the Russian border. 

Marathon talks in Berlin brought no consensus on how to end the conflict, and President Petro Poroshenko said Kiev was pressing on with its drive to oust rebels, having "laid siege to cities most controlled" by them.

Lysenko said insurgents deliberately targeted the civilians, whose transport was clearly marked, adding that the exact number of casualties was still unclear.

"The convoy had white flags and was marked as civilian," he said at a briefing. Kiev believes it was shelled from mortar guns and Grad rocket systems supplied from Russia and was "completely destroyed".

"We ask that any videos from the scene are not released to the public, because they are atrocious," he added.

The United States "strongly" condemned the attack on the convoy, said State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf in Washington.