Bodies Recovered In Ukraine Refugee Convoy Attack That Left 'No Survivors'

Pro-Russian separatists said no one survived the Monday morning rocket attack on a convoy evacuating refugees from eastern Ukraine's rebel controlled Luhansk region, the BBC reported.

Ukraine's government said Tuesday it recovered 15 bodies, both women and children, who were killed after Russian-made Grad rockets launched by suspected rebels struck the convoy as it traveled on a road near Novosvitlivka village.

"The convoy had white flags and was marked as civilian," Ukraine military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told the BBC.

The attack was blamed on separatists that have overrun the region. The rebels say they did not attack the convoy and that the refugees were killed by foreign mercenaries fighting for the Ukrainian government, according to the BBC.

It will be hard to determine who was responsible for the attack because both Ukraine and the rebel fighters have Grad rockets.

A delay was caused in the victim recovery effort due to intense fighting between Ukrainian forces and the separatists, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Troops from the capital Kiev are steadily advancing on the rebels' strongholds in Luhansk and Donetsk. But the fighting has caused fears of a humanitarian crisis as civilians in Luhansk have gone without water and electricity for weeks, the WSJ reported. At least 2,000 people have been killed since the outbreak in conflict in April.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel is expected to arrive in Kiev on Saturday to talk with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko about "concrete possibilities to support Ukraine in the current crisis," chancellor spokesman Steffen Seibert told the newspaper.

The two officials will also discuss Ukraine's relationship with Russia, which has been repeatedly accused of supplying the rebels with weapons and soldiers. Meanwhile, hundreds of trucks filled with what Russia says is humanitarian aid for the suffering civilians are currently stalled at Russia's border with Ukraine.

Ukraine said it won't let the trucks through until they are inspected by the Red Cross.

The Red Cross said it won't deliver the aid until it receives security guarantees, the WSJ reported.

Moscow has denied any involvement in the unfolding crisis.