Ukraine rebel-held city Donetsk left in ruins after shelling

THIS is how bad it is. Shocking footage shows a Ukraine city in ruins after heavy shelling overnight.

EERIE footage of a lifeless Ukraine city shows the devastation that has hit Donetsk after shelling overnight.

Heavy strikes were carried out in the centre of Donetsk city on August 29 as pro-Russian separatists in control of the city traded fire with government forces.

The vision, released by a Ukraine militia group and verified by video agency Storyful, shows the aftermath of a shelling at Donetsk’s railway station.

The shell of a bus still fully engulfed in flames, burnt out cars, burning buildings and abandoned shops with their storefront smashed through line the empty streets.

Dust and debris fill the industrial city as workers begin vain clean-up efforts and attempt to extinguish fires still burning after explosions.

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The war-torn city has endured days of shelling with at least 11 civilians dead and dozens injured according to report earlier this week.

The strikes come a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin issued an address to the separatist militias, and called for a humanitarian corridor in the east of the country.

The shocking vision comes as reports emerge from Ukraine that Russian military convoys have entered Ukraine in the past week, leading NATO to condemn Russia’s military action saying its troops had “illegally crossed the border”.

Speaking after a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine commission, NATO Secrety General Anders Fogh Rasmussen bluntly said Russia’s forces were directly engaged in military operations inside Ukraine.

“This is a blatant violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and terrorial integrity,” he said.

“It defies all diplomatic efforts for a peaceful solution.”

Russia has denied its troops have operated inside Ukraine, despite NATO’s release of satellite images showing what is believed to be Russian tanks and armoured personnel carriers advancing in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s president Petro Poroshenko earlier in the week called an emergency meeting of the nation’s security council and cancelled a foreign trip Thursday, declaring that “Russian forces have entered Ukraine,” as concerns grew about the opening of a new front in the conflict.

The west has condemned Russia’s movement in Ukraine with Prime Minister Tony Abbott branding the latest military action “completely, absolutely and utterly unacceptable” and calling into question whether President Putin will be welcome at the G20 summit in Brisbane later this year.