Separatist unrest spreads in Ukraine
slaviansk/kiev — Pro-Russian separatists on Monday ignored an ultimatum to leave occupied government buildings in eastern Ukraine while another group of rebels attacked a police headquarters as a threatened military offensive by government forces failed to materialise.
Rebels in the town of Slaviansk, which was expected on Monday to be the focus of a broad government “anti-terrorist” operation involving the army, issued a bold call for Russian President Vladimir Putin to help them.
Though he said on Monday that the offensive was going ahead, Ukraine’s interim president Oleksander Turchinov sacked the state security chief in charge of the operation, signalling possible discord behind the scenes.
Turchinov also took a risky step to try to undercut rebels’ demands, by holding out the prospect of a referendum on the future shape of the Ukrainian state. He suggested this could be held at the same time as a presidential election on May 25.
The European Union threatened Russia with more sanctions over its actions in eastern Ukraine, which Britain said was being destabilised by Moscow, although some EU states said diplomacy should be given more time.
As the 9am deadline issued by authorities in Kiev expired, a Reuters reporter in the flashpoint city of Slaviansk, where armed men had seized two government buildings, saw nothing to show the rebels were obeying the ultimatum.
But one of the rebel leaders, in an appeal issued through journalists, asked Putin to “help us as much as you can”.
Also in Slaviansk, about 150km from the Russian border, a small airfield which was occupied by Ukrainian air force planes on Sunday was empty on Monday and pro-separatist forces said they were now in control of it.
In the city of Horlivka, meanwhile, about 100 pro-Russian separatists attacked the police headquarters, a witness told Reuters. Video footage on Ukrainian television showed an ambulance treating people apparently injured in the attack.
In all, separatists have seized government buildings and security facilities in 10 cities. —