Rebels shoot down helicopter

REBELS IN eastern Ukraine have shot down a government military helicopter amid heavy fighting around Slovyansk, killing at least 12 soldiers including a general, officials said.

Acting Ukrainian president Oleksandr Turchynov told the parliament in Kiev that rebels used a portable air defence missile to bring down the helicopter. He said 14 died, including General Serhiy Kulchytskiy.

Ukraine’s National Guards put the death toll at 12, including Kulchytskiy, and said that one soldier was badly wounded but added that information is still being clarified.

Slovyansk, a city of 120,000 residents 100 miles from the Russian border, is the epicentre of fighting between pro-Russia insurgents and government forces.

Its residential areas have regularly come under mortar shelling from government forces, causing civilian casualties and prompting some residents to flee.

An Associated Press reporter saw the helicopter go down amid a trail of black smoke. Gunshots were heard in Slovyansk near the crash site and a Ukrainian air force jet was seen circling above. It was too dangerous to visit the crash site.

The Kiev government condemns the insurgency as the work of “terrorists” set on destroying the country and accuses Russia of stirring it up. Russia denies the claims, saying it has no influence over rebels, who insist they are only protecting the interests of Russian-speakers in the east.

Still, fighters from Russia, including from the battled-hardened region of Chechnya, have been appearing in the ranks of the separatists.

An insurgent in Donetsk told reporters that 33 Russian citizens were among the rebels killed in the city earlier this week.

Insurgent leaders claim as many as 100 fighters died when Ukrainian forces used combat jets and helicopter gunships on Monday to dislodge the rebels who tried to take control of the city airport.

Billionaire Petro Poroshenko, who won Sunday’s presidential vote, has vowed to uproot the armed rebels.

Russia says it will work with Poroshenko but has repeatedly urged the Ukrainian government to end its military operation.

Pictures: AP. Smoke rises from the crash site, above, which is in a region that families have been fleeing from, below.