Ukrainian special forces have started a punitive operation in the city of Sloviansk early on Friday morning. “A full sweep operation was launched” with armoured vehicles and warplanes involved in it, a representative of the city militia told ITAR-TASS. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry stated that two Ukrainian Air Force’s helicopter gunships Mil Mi-24 had been downed and a military transport helicopter Mi-8 had been damaged in clashes.
Three people, including two servicemen and a militiaman were reported killed.
Earlier, Ukrainian Security Service’s anti-terrorism centre reported about “the gunfire at a third helicopter gunship” which participated in a special operation in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, the country’s security service stated at its website on Friday.
“A person was wounded” in the gunfire. The country’s Security Service also claimed that “nine checkpoints were taken under control on the outskirts of Sloviansk.
Ukrainian army helicopter gunships delivered strikes at massive gatherings of civilians in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, a city resident said on Friday.
“Helicopter gunships have made several attack runs and delivered strikes,” the eyewitness said.
Sloviansk people’s mayor Vyacheslav Ponomarev has made a video address to local residents earlier in the day asking children, women and pensioners not to leave their homes and asked men to “give all their aid” to policemen.
“Our city was attacked, our city is being stormed, we suffer some losses,” Ponomarev said, adding that “We will protect our city, we will win.”
Ponomarev’s address to Sloviansk residents was delivered shortly after local residents started making a live shield on the roads leading to the city and near checkpoints to prevent Ukrainian law enforcement columns from entering the city.
Ponomarev also noted that one person was killed and another one was wounded in the military strikes on the city.
http://en.itar-tass.com/world/730257
2/5/14
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'Many dead' in Ukraine offensive...
ReplyDeleteMany pro-Russia rebels have been killed, injured and arrested in the Ukrainian government offensive in the eastern city of Sloviansk, interim president Oleksandr Turchynov has said.
But, in a statement, he said the operation in the rebel-held city was not going as quickly as hoped.
Earlier, rebels shot down two Ukrainian army helicopters, killing a pilot and a serviceman.
Russia has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
Moscow has said the use of the Ukrainian army against its own people is "leading Ukraine to catastrophe" and urged the Security Council to convene on Friday.
The situation in Sloviansk remains unclear, with Kiev earlier saying that half the city was "under control" of Ukrainian units.
Mr Turchynov said the fight against rebel forces was "greatly complicated" by the fact that the conflict in eastern Ukraine was taking place in population centres.
Two Ukrainian army service personnel were killed in the fight for Sloviansk, he said, and he accused pro-Russian forces of hiding behind civilians and hostages.
All pro-Russian checkpoints around the city had been captured, Mr Turchynov added, though separatists have spoken of several still being under their control.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-27259614
2/5/14
La Russie a demandé une réunion d'urgence du Conseil de sécurité de l'ONU sur la situation en Ukraine qui devrait se tenir en fin de matinée vendredi à New York, ont indiqué des diplomates...
ReplyDeleteLa demande russe est motivée par "la grave escalade de la violence dans l'est de l'Ukraine" et la réunion sera publique, ont-ils précisé. Cette rencontre sera la treizième depuis le début de la crise ukrainienne, aucune des précédentes réunions formelles ou séances de consultations n'ayant abouti à une prise de position commune du Conseil sur ce dossier. (Belga)
Des pro-russes avec des armes à feu à Odessa ?...
ReplyDeleteLes pro-Kiev assurent que des pro-russes sont équipés d'armes de poing à Odessa. Selon eux, ils seraient protégés par des policiers pro-russes, dont certains arboreraient le même brassard rouge, en signe de reconnaissance.......http://tempsreel.nouvelobs.com/ukraine-la-revolte/20140502.OBS5922/en-direct-ukraine-l-armee-lance-une-offensive-pour-reprendre-slaviansk.html?xtor=RSS-17
2/5/14
The Obama-Merkel news conference has wrapped. Here's a summary:....
ReplyDelete• The US and Europe will remain united in support of Ukrainian sovereignty, the leaders said. There was still time for Moscow to help craft a diplomatic solution to the crisis, they said.
• Obama said Russia's disruptive role in eastern Ukraine created a broader security threat. "Russia's actions in Ukraine pose a direct challenge that brought the US and Europe together in the first place," Obama says. "That is a united Europe."
• The planned 25 May elections were presented as a trigger date for a new round of sanctions on Russia. If the elections are disrupted, the leaders said, "sectoral" sanctions would follow. "This is not necessarily what we want but we're ready, and prepared," Merkel said.
• Obama implied, however, that new sanctions might not target Russia's energy sector. Energy flows from Russia to Europe continued "at the height of the Cold War," he pointed out.
• The leaders decried the treatment of captive OSCE observers at the hands of pro-Russia forces. Obama said the US and Germany are "united in our outrage over the appalling treatment of OSCE observers... It is disgraceful and it is inexcusable."
• Obama said unidentified militants in east Ukraine "receive report from Russia." He said they are armed and trained, "with the capacity to shoot down helicopters. Generally protesters ... do not have that ability."
• Merkel called on Moscow to cooperate in defusing the crisis. "Mr Putin needs to play a role … and his arguments need to be weighed," she said........http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/02/ukraine-crisis-pro-russian-forces-claim-assault-on-slavyansk-live-updates
2/5/14
The West has cut all paths to a peaceful solution of the Ukrainian crisis by supporting the Kiev authorities and their violent crackdown on protests in the eastern part of the country, Russia’s envoy Vitaly Churkin told the UN Security Council.....
ReplyDeleteCatastrophic consequences are inevitable if Kiev authorities do not stop their “criminal venture,” Churkin stressed at the emergency UNSC meeting summoned by Moscow on Friday.
He pointed out that Kiev has flagrantly violated its obligations that were established under the Geneva agreement on April 17. The "punitive measures" carried out by the government are evidence of Kiev’s inability and unwillingness to fulfill these obligations, he added.
“Particular concern is raised by data that, during the punitive operation of the Ukrainian military and illegal ultra-nationalist groups, English speech was heard on air, and among the assailants on Slavyansk, English speaking foreigners were seen,” the Russian UN envoy said.
He stressed that Moscow “insists on avoiding any external interference in what is happening in Ukraine.”
“Kiev regime, encouraged by its Western sponsors, used massive use of military force, practically destroying the last hope for the viability of the Geneva agreement,” Churkin said.
The Russian envoy to the UN has urged Kiev and all sides who took part in the Geneva deal – the US and EU – to “refrain from making grave mistakes” and “soberly assess the full responsibility of the possible consequences of their actions."
“Supporting the organizers of the Kiev government coup and their military crackdown on protesters, the US and EU take great responsibility practically cutting all paths to resolve the crisis peacefully,” Churkin concluded.
Against this background, “Washington’s flat refusal” to support the proposal on organizing an OSCE-supported dialogue between Kiev and southeastern Ukraine looks “not coincidental,” Churkin said...........http://rt.com/news/156468-russia-ukraine-crisis-crackdown/
2/5/14