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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Dead on both sides in Ukraine 'anti-terrorist' operation |
| 2014-04-14 |
| [Beirut Daily Star] Ukrainian security forces launched an operation on Sunday to clear pro-Russian separatists from state buildings in the eastern city of Slaviansk, with dead reported on both sides as Kiev combats what it calls an act of aggression by Moscow. With East-West relations in crisis, NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. It's headquartered in Belgium. That sez it all.... described the appearance in eastern Ukraine of men with specialised Russian weapons and identical uniforms without insignia - as previously worn by Moscow's troops when they seized Crimea - as a "grave development". Ukraine faces a rash of rebellions in the east that it says are inspired and directed by the Kremlin. But action to dislodge the armed Death Eaters risks tipping the stand-off into a new, dangerous phase as Moscow has warned it will protect the region's Russian-speakers if they come under attack. One Ukrainian state security officer was killed and five maimed on the government side in what interior minister Arsen Avakov called Sunday's "anti-terrorist" operation. "There were dead and maimed on both sides," Avakov said on his Facebook page, adding that about 1,000 people were supporting the separatists. The Russian news agency RIA reported that one pro- Moscow activist was killed in Slaviansk in festivities with forces loyal to the Kiev government. "On our side, another two were maimed," RIA quoted pro-Russian Death Eater Nikolai Solntsev as adding. The separatists are holed up in the local headquarters of the police and of the state security service, while others have erected road blocks around Slaviansk, which lies about 150 km (90 miles) from the Russian border. |
| Posted by:Fred |