Ukraine,At least 11 Ukrainian troops have been killed and about 30 others wounded in an attack by pro-Russia insurgents on a military checkpoint, the deadliest raid in weeks of fighting in eastern Ukraine. The attack came three days before the country's presidential vote.
AP
journalists saw 11 bodies scattered around the checkpoint on the edge of the
village of Blahodatne, about 20 miles (30km) south of the city of Donetsk.
Witnesses said more than 30 Ukrainian troops had been wounded when the
insurgents attacked the checkpoint, and some of them were in a grave condition.
Three
charred Ukrainian armoured infantry vehicles, their turrets blown away by
powerful explosions. Several burned-out trucks stood at the site of the attack.
A military helicopter landed on the site, carrying officials who inspected the
area.The Ukrainian defence ministry confirmed the attack, but would not comment
on casualties. There was no report of casualties on the insurgent side.In the
town of Horlivka, a rebel commander claimed responsibility for the raid and
produced an array of weapons he said had been seized."We destroyed a
checkpoint of the fascist Ukrainian army deployed on the land of the Donetsk
Republic," said the commander, who wore a balaclava and identified himself
by his nom de guerre, Bes – Russian for demon.
"The weapons you see here have been
taken from the dead. They are trophies," he said, showing several dozen
items, including automatic and sniper rifles, rocket grenade launchers and
bulletproof vests carefully laid out in the courtyard in the Horlivka city
police headquarters occupied by the rebels."People living in western
Ukraine, think about where you are sending your brothers, fathers and sons, and
why you need any of this," he added.Scores have been killed in fighting
between pro-Russia insurgents, who have seized government buildings, and
government troops in eastern Ukraine.Thursday's carnage cast a shadow over
Ukraine's presidential vote on Sunday, which insurgents in the east have vowed
to derail. The authorities in Kiev see the vote as a chance to defuse tensions
and stabilise the country, although they have admitted it will be impossible to
stage the vote in some areas in the east, where election officials as well as
voters have faced intimidation and threats from the rebels.
Many in the east resent the government in
Kiev, which came to power after the pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych was
ousted in February, seeing it as a bunch of nationalists bent on repressing
Russian speakers. But many local residents have grown increasingly exasperated
with the rebels, whom they blamed for putting civilians in the crossfire.In the
village of Semenovka on the outskirts of Slovyansk, artillery shelling that
appeared to come from government positions badly damaged several houses on
Thursday.Zinaida Patskan, 80, had the roof of her house torn by an explosion,
which also shattered one of the walls. "Why they are hitting us?" she
said, bursting into tears. "We are peaceful people."Patskan, who was
not hurt, said she was hiding under a kitchen table with her cat, Timofey, when
the shelling came.
About a hundred Semenovka residents later
vented their anger against the central government, demanding that the Ukrainian
forces cease their offensive and withdraw from the region. Speakers at the
rally also called for a boycott of the presidential vote.While fighting raged
in Ukraine, Russia's defence ministry said on Thursday that its forces were
leaving the regions near Ukraine as part of a massive military pullout ordered
by Vladimir Putin.It said four trainloads of weapons and 15 Il-76 transport
planes had left the Belgorod, Bryansk and Rostov regions on Wednesday. The
troops are to reach their permanent bases before 1 June, the ministry added.Nato,
which estimates that Russia has 40,000 troops along the border with Ukraine,
repeated on Tuesday that it had not yet seen any signs of a Russian withdrawal.
Putin dismissed Nato's scepticism, saying
on Wednesday that the pullout involving large numbers of troops would take time
and "those who aren't seeing it should look better". He said the
pullout would be clearly visible in satellite images.The announcement went
further than one by the Russian leader two weeks ago, when he said troops had
retreated from the border to shooting ranges.Putin's pullout order and his
remarks welcoming Ukraine's presidential election this Sunday reflected an
attempt to ease tensions with the west over the crisis and avoid a new round of
western sanctions. He has ignored the pleas from some of the rebels in eastern
Ukraine to join Russia after independence referendums dismissed as a sham by
Ukraine and the west.The US and the EU imposed travel bans and asset freezes on
members of Putin's entourage after Russia annexed Crimea in March. Washington
and Brussels have warned that more crippling sanctions against entire sectors
of the Russian economy will follow if Russia tries to grab more land or
attempts to derail Ukraine's election.
Moscow
has supported a peace plan brokered by Switzerland and the Organisation for
Security and Co-operation in Europe.
which envisages a broad amnesty, the launch of a national dialogue that focuses
on the decentralisation of government, and the Russian language being upheld.
Russia
has also pushed for guarantees that Ukraine will not join Nato and has
advocated constitutional reforms that would give broader powers to the regions,
which would maintain Moscow's clout in the Russian-speaking eastern regions
that form the nation's industrial heartland.As clashes continued in the east,
the Kremlin condemned the detention of journalists working for Russian media
outlets in Ukraine. Graham Phillips, a British national working for the
state-controlled English language television station RT, was detained earlier
this week by Ukrainian forces.
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