Ukraine says Russia waging 'war' in separatist east
By Yavgen Savilov and Dmitry Zaks in Kiev
3 hours ago
Slavyansk (Ukraine) (AFP) - Ukraine's acting president accused Russia of waging war in his country's eastern belt as fresh clashes left at least two dead and led the United Nations Security Council to announce emergency talks late on Sunday.
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Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov declared the launch of a "full-scale anti-terrorist operation", a day after masked gunmen stormed police and security service buildings in coordinated raids that Washington's UN envoy Samantha Power said on Sunday bore "tell-tale signs of Moscow's involvement".
The heavily Russified region has been riven by unrest since pro-Western leaders rose to power in February on the back of bloody protests against the old regime's decision to reject an EU alliance and turn towards Moscow.
Russia has since massed around 40,000 soldiers along Ukraine's eastern frontier and threatened to halt its neighbour's gas supplies over unpaid bills -- a cutoff that would impact at least 18 EU nations.
The balaclava-clad gunmen were armed with special-issue assault rifles and scopes most often used by nations' crack security troops.
Many wore unmarked camouflage uniforms similar to those seen on the highly trained units that seized the Crimean peninsula in early March. They also moved with military precision and cohesion.
Turchynov told the nation in a televised address that "we will not allow Russia to repeat the Crimean scenario in the east of Ukraine".
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Blood has been spilt in a war that is being waged against Ukraine by Russia," said Turchynov."The national security and defence council has decided to launch a full-scale anti-terrorist operation involving the armed forces of Ukraine."
The Russian foreign ministry immediately responded by accusing Ukraine's leaders of "waging war against their own people" and demanding that the UN Security Council immediately address Kiev's use of force.
Nigerian envoy Joy Ogwu, whose country holds the rotating council presidency, invited fellow members of the group for "informal consultations" at 8:00 pm (0001 GMT Monday), a statement said.
A Western diplomat said "the meeting was requested by the Russians to make their case that Ukraine's latest declarations about the anti-terrorist operation threaten peace and security".
Moscow has denied playing a role in the latest wave of violence and previously told Kiev that its armed response could ruin the chances of the two sides sitting down for US-EU mediated talks in Geneva on Thursday.
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Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk speaks during a meeting with the leaderships and with rep …
- 'Everyone is in panic' -
Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced the launch of a counterstrike against the armed separatists in the eastern Donetsk region early on Sunday morning.
He said crack units from Ukraine's SBU security service moved first into the city of Slavyansk to regain control of a police station that had been seized by about 20 militants on Saturday.
But Avakov admitted that his troops had to "regroup" after meeting stiff resistance and suffering casualties.
"There are dead and wounded on both sides. On our side -- an SBU officer. The head of the SBU's anti-terrorist centre has been wounded, as have four others," Avakov wrote on his Facebook page.
"On side of the separatists -- an unidentified number. The separatists have started to protect themselves using human shields."
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Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei lavrov attends a meeting with members of the government at the …
Russia's state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited one local protester as saying that a civilian had also been killed and two others injured.
The local administration separately reported a series of heavy clashes on a highway linking Slavyansk with the region's capital Donetsk to the south.
The Donetsk adminstration said one person was killed and four wounded in an "ongoing armed standoff" on a stretch of the road connecting Slavyansk and the town of Artemivsk.
Slavyansk residents meanwhile reported a run on stores and general panic among locals in the poor mining town of 100,000 people.
"By nine in the morning, the stores had run out of bread," 47-year-old Yelena told AFP as attack helicopters hovered overhead.
"Everyone is in panic. People are waiting for a war to break out."
In response to the violence, ousted Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych claimed the country had "found itself in a new situation.. and begun to enter into civil war", reported Russian news agencies. He was speaking from Rostov-on-Don in Russia, where he has taken refuge.
- 'Russia is complicit' -
Saturday's raids drew expressions of grave concern from world leaders and Russian warnings against any use of force against the militants.
The US State Department said John Kerry phoned his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on Saturday to make "clear that if Russia did not take steps to deescalate in eastern Ukraine and move its troops back from Ukraine's border, there would be additional consequences".
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she was "gravely concerned" and urged Russia to pull back its troops from the border and to "cease any further actions aimed at destabilising Ukraine".
NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen agreed that the "reappearance of men with specialised Russian weapons and identical uniforms without insignia, as previously worn by Russian troops during Russia's illegal and illegitimate seizure of Crimea, is a grave development". |
