Attacks kill Ukraine mayor, target another
LVIV: Two Ukrainian mayors have been targeted in separate attacks, authorities said Saturday, with one shot dead while the other’s house was hit by an anti-tank rocket.
Oleg Babayev, mayor of the central-eastern city of Kremenchuk was killed not far from his home, the interior ministry said.
In the other attack, the house of Andry Sadovy, mayor of the western city of Lviv, was hit by a rocket fired late Friday.
No one was in the house at the time of the strike, his office said in a statement as local police launched a probe into what they described as a “terrorist attack”.
Sadovy is a key figure in Ukraine’s pro-European protests that led to the downfall of former president Viktor Yanukovych in February.
“To my knowledge, no rocket launchers have been used to fire shots in Lviv,” said Sadovy.
Both Lviv and Kremenchuk have been spared from the violence plaguing eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russian separatists are locked in a deadly battle against Ukrainian forces.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said their forces advanced to the outskirts of a key town north of Donetsk on Saturday in hopes of retaking the stronghold held for months by pro-Russia rebels.
EU SANCTIONS
Russia reacted angrily to additional sanctions imposed by the European Union over Moscow’s role in the Ukraine crisis, saying they would hamper cooperation on security issues and undermine the fight against terrorism and organised crime. The EU also imposed travel bans and asset freezes on the chiefs of Russia’s FSB security service and foreign intelligence service and a number of other top Russian officials, saying played pivotal role in Ukraine crisis.