Armed
pro-Russian activists guard a police station in the eastern Ukrainian
city of Slavyansk. Photograph: Anatoliy Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
Gunmen have seized a police station and other government buildings in Ukraine's
eastern industrial heartland amid a tense deadlock in the country's
east, where armed pro-Russian protesters have barricaded themselves
inside government buildings and demanded independence from Kiev.
Ukraine's
interior minister, Arsen Avakov, said another group of gunmen tried to
storm the Donetsk regional prosecutor's office but was repelled.
The
early morning raid on the police station happened in Slavyansk, a town
about 35 miles north of the regional capital, Donetsk. The men collected
weapons and distributed them to their supporters. A second group later
took the headquarters of the state security service.
"Armed men in
camouflage fatigues have taken the police station in Slavyansk," Avakov
wrote on his Facebook page. "Here, our response will be very severe."
A
local police official told Kiev's private Channel 5 television that the
raid was staged by six men who had fired several shots into the air
before storming the station. It was not immediately clear how the local
police responded or whether the gunmen had taken any hostages.
DONETSK, UKRAINE
— Ukraine says Saturday's attacks by pro-Russian militants in eastern
Ukraine are "an act of external aggression" by Russia, and security
officials are preparing to implement "an operational response plan."
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov's evaluation appeared on Facebook
Saturday, shortly after armed militants with Russian weapons seized more
government buildings in the Russian-speaking east, including police
headquarters in Donetsk and Kramatorsk.
Witnesses, including
western journalists, say the Kramatorsk facility was captured after a
firefight, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
Armed men stand in front of police headquarters in Slaviansk, April 12, 2014.
The
takeover of police facilities in Donetsk prompted the city's police
chief to resign, while elsewhere, Western news accounts late Saturday
said militants controlled the eastern city of Sloviansk.
Moscow
has repeatedly denied any role in Ukraine's unrest, which erupted in
full two months ago, when anti-Russian protesters in Kyiv forced
then-president Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country.
US reaction
Meanwhile, the United States has called on Russia to "cease all
efforts" to destabilize Ukraine. A White House National Security
Council spokeswoman said Saturday the United States is concerned that
Russian separatists -- with apparent support from Moscow -- are
"inciting violence and sabotage" against the Ukrainian state.
Secretary of State John Kerry spoke by telephone with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the State Department said.
"During the call Kerry expressed strong concern that attacks today by
armed militants in eastern Ukraine were orchestrated and synchronized,
similar to previous attacks in eastern Ukraine and Crimea,'' said a
senior State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Militants were equipped with specialized Russian weapons and the same
uniforms as those worn by the Russian forces that invaded Crimea. The
secretary made clear that if Russia did not take steps to de-escalate in
eastern Ukraine and move its troops back from Ukraine's border, there
would be additional consequences,'' the official added.
The official did not state what those consequences would be.
US officials met Friday with Ukrainian finance officials to discuss a
"range of strategic and economic issues" according to a State Department
statement.
A resident passed food to a pro-Russian militant at a police station in Slovyansk.Credit Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
SLOVYANSK,
Ukraine — The Ukrainian government on Sunday for the first time sent
its security services to confront armed pro-Russian militants in the
country’s east, defying warnings from Russia. Commandos engaged in
gunfights with men who had set up roadblocks and stormed a Ukrainian
police station in Slovyansk, and at least one officer was killed,
Ukrainian officials said.
Several
officers were injured in the operation, as were four locals, the
officials said. Russian news media and residents here disputed that
account, saying the Ukrainian forces had only briefly engaged one
checkpoint.
In
either case, the central government in Kiev has turned to force to try
to restore its authority in the east, a course of action that the
Russian government has repeatedly warned against.
With
tens of thousands of Russian troops massed along Ukraine’s eastern
border near Donetsk, Western leaders have worried that Moscow might use
unrest in Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking areas as a pretext for an
invasion.
Both
governments intensified their statements on Sunday. Ukraine’s interim
president, Oleksandr V. Turchynov, issued another ultimatum, saying
separatists should vacate occupied buildings by Monday or face a
“large-scale antiterrorist operation” that would include the Ukrainian
military. And Russia claimed that the Ukrainian government was cracking
down at the behest of American and European officials.
Ukraine’s
ousted president, Viktor F. Yanukovych, speaking late Sunday in
Rostov-on-Don, in Russia, echoed Moscow’s charges of American meddling.
Insisting
that he remained Ukraine’s commander in chief despite having fled to
Russia more than a month ago, he ordered Ukrainian troops to defy what
he called “criminal orders” for a crackdown and said the country stood
“on the brink of civil war.”
The
police station contested by Ukrainian forces was one of several
security centers in the eastern region of Donetsk that were seized on
Saturday by masked gunmen in coordinated raids that the Ukrainian
authorities denounced as Russian “aggression.”
Photo
Residents
gathered as protesters guarded a fortified barricade set up at the
entrance. At least one officer was killed when Ukrainian armed forces
stormed the station on Sunday, officials said.Credit Mauricio Lima for The New York Times
By
Sunday afternoon, the government’s push to reassert its authority in a
vitally important industrial and coal-mining region appeared to have
made little headway. Pro-Russian protesters appeared to control not only
the police station but also the entire town of Slovyansk, having set up
checkpoints at major streets leading into town.
The
protesters blocked a major highway in the east, and flags of Russia and
their newly declared and unrecognized People’s Republic of Donetsk flew
over administrative buildings in several other midsize towns. These
included Mariupol, where protesters seized a building Sunday.
Roman
Svitan, a security adviser to the Ukrainian authorities in Donetsk,
said the operation on Sunday was carried out by Alfa, a special services
unit of Ukraine’s state security service. He gave an upbeat assessment
of its progress, saying Ukrainian forces had evicted gunmen from the
Slovyansk Police Headquarters, though protesters there said nothing of
the sort had happened.
Mr. Svitan said most of the expelled gunmen were local pro-Russian extremists, but they had also included Russian operatives.
Residents
and men standing by barricades in Slovyansk denied that Ukrainian
forces had even entered the town on Sunday. They said one local man who
had been out fishing was in a hospital with a wound from a shooting on a
highway outside town. Russian television and some locals said the
Ukrainian nationalist group Right Sector had attacked protesters at a
checkpoint, injuring the fisherman.
Requests
to speak to a leader of the armed men produced a man wearing a ski mask
who introduced himself as Aleksandr and described himself as a deputy
commander of the city of Slovyansk after its merger with the People’s
Republic of Donetsk.
Gunmen Seize Another Building in Ukraine, Gas Payments to Russia Suspended
April 12, 2014
Pro-Russian militants have extended their takeovers of public buildings in eastern Ukraine.
The regional interior ministry says gunmen have seized a state security building in Slovyansk.
Earlier
Saturday, armed men seized a police station in the city. A VOA
correspondent in the region says the militants took about 400 weapons
from the station.
Meanwhile, pro-Russian protesters continue to
occupy government buildings in the regional capital Donetsk and in
Luhansk. Kyiv has offered concessions to the protesters and regional
leaders, after its Friday deadline passed for separatists to vacate the
buildings.
Acting Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he
supported amending Ukraine's constitution and changing laws so regional
governors are no longer appointed by the central government, and
regional referendums are permitted. He also promised no one would be
allowed to "limit the Russian language and the right to speak it in
Ukraine."
NATO says there has been a buildup of Russian military forces along the border with Ukraine recently.
Armed men stand in front of police headquarters in Slaviansk, April 12, 2014.
The
takeover of police facilities in Donetsk prompted the city's police
chief to resign, while elsewhere, Western news accounts late Saturday
said militants controlled the eastern city of Sloviansk.
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