Ukraine battles to oust pro-Russian gunmen
VIOLENT Kiev officer, rebel reported dead after gun battles in the east; US says there are ‘signs of Moscow involvement’
Ukrainian forces launched an operation on Sunday to clear pro-Russian separatists from state buildings in Slaviansk, with dead reported on both sides. But action to dislodge the militants risks tipping the stand-off into a new, dangerous phase as Moscow has warned it will protect the region’s Russian-speakers.
SLAVYANSK, UKRAINE: Ukrainian forces launched an operation on Sunday to clear pro-Russian separatists from state buildings in the eastern city of Slaviansk, with dead reported on both sides as Kiev combatted what it calls an act of aggression by Moscow.
With East-West relations in crisis, Nato described the appearance in eastern Ukraine of men with specialised Russian weapons and identical uniforms without insignia — as previously worn by Moscow’s troops when they seized Crimea — as a “grave development”.
Ukraine faces a rash of rebellions in the country’s east that it says are inspired and directed by the Kremlin.
But action to dislodge the ar med militants risks tipping the stand-off into a new, dangerous phase as Moscow has warned it will protect the region’s Russian-speakers if they come under attack.
One Ukrainian state security officer was killed and five were wounded on the government side in what interior minister Arsen Avakov called Sunday’s “antiterrorist” operation.
The Russian news agency RIA reported that one pro-Moscow activist was killed in Slaviansk in clashes with forces loyal to the Kiev government. Moscow involved: US Attacks on police and security service buildings in eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian gunmen bore “tell-tale signs of Moscow’s involvement,” the US envoy to the United Nations said Sunday.
Speaking on ABC television’s “This Week” program, Ambassador Samantha Power dismissed suggestions that the attacks, which have triggered gun battles with Ukrainian special forces, were the work of grass-roots militia groups.
“It’s professional, coordinated. Nothing grassroots about it,” Power said.