Ukraine Continues Military Offensive

Ukraine Soldier

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said operations resumed at dawn on Saturday and that Ukrainian forces had taken a television tower in the town Kramatorsk, south of Slaviansk.

Ukraine’s mostly-Russian speaking east found itself at the centre of the country’s crisis after pro-Russian militants overran the region last month. On Friday, Ukrainian forces launched an assault on the eastern town of Slaviansk in an effort to take it back from separatists, during which two military helicopters were shot down.

Militants in Slaviansk said that three of their own had been killed in the violence, as well as two civilians. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry reported that two crew members from aboard the downed helicopters had died, and that two other servicemen were killed later in the evening after they were attacked by separatists.

Violence also erupted in Odessa on Friday, where police said three people were shot dead and dozens wounded in running battles between people backing Ukraine’s government in Kiev and pro-Russian separatists. Another man died later and a further 37 people were killed when a trade union building was set on fire as fighting continued into the evening, police said.

Regional police chief Petro Lutsiuk said on Saturday more than 130 people had been detained and could face charges ranging from participating in riots to premeditated murder.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said Ukrainian forces had fired on civilians from the air in Slaviansk in a “punitive operation” that destroyed an international peace plan. Russia has tens of thousands of troops massed on the border, and claims the right to invade the country if needed to protect Russian speakers.

Ukraine’s government said the use of missiles to bring down its helicopters showed Russian forces were in the town and also that Russian “armed saboteurs” had tried to enter the country overnight, but were pushed back by Ukrainian border troops.

Russia denies involvement with the rebels and its security service said the incursion report was untrue.

Ukraine’s government said it was forced to act in eastern Ukraine because Moscow was backing groups there who were “putting civilians in danger, seizing hostages and creating an atmosphere of terror and violence”.

The country’s acting President Oleksander Turchinov later said that the operation had been complicated by the rebels’ use of human shields, and had not progressed as quickly as had been hoped.

source : France24