EASTER TRUCE’ BROKEN: FIVE DEATHS
IN OVERNIGHT CHECKPOINT RAID IN E. UKRAINE
Published time: April
20, 2014 [Extracts
of 2 articles from RT]
Five people have been killed in a
gunfight in Slavyansk, a city in eastern Ukraine held by anti-government
protesters. The fatalities include three protesters and two attackers, who are
believed to be from the Right Sector paramilitary.
The deaths came after a night attack
on a protester checkpoint on the outskirts of the city. Four cars drove by the
checkpoint and opened fire at the local residents manning it, killing two
people and seriously injuring several others.
“They
approached with their high beam headlamps on. Our man went to them and asked
not to blind us, show IDs and open the trunk for inspection. Then an assault
rifle got stuck out of the window and he was gunned down,” an eyewitness, Vladimir, told RT.
He added some of the people trying
to flee the attackers were shot in their backs. One gunshot victim died later
in hospital from a head wound, local medics confirmed. Two others are
undergoing treatment.
Among the victims of the night attack is Sergey Rudenko, 53, who worked as a school bus driver, his wife told RIA Novosti. He lived in a village near Slavyansk and was guarding the checkpoint on Easter night together with his two adult sons.
As the civilians were pinned down, a group of 20 protesters with firearms came from the city. They opened fire on the attackers, killing two of them and sent the rest running. Five attackers were injured by the retaliating forces, protest leader, Vyacheslav Ponomaryev, said.
Donetsk region’s interior ministry confirmed fatalities in the gunfight, but said it has information on only three deaths – two among the local residents and one among the attackers. The identity of the attacker is yet to be established, the law enforcers said.
The protesters captured two of the attackers’ four cars, which were damaged in the gunfight and later torched by protesters angry over the deaths of their fellow Slavyansk residents.
Footage of the equipment confiscated showed firearms including a machine gun, a night vision device, aerial photos of Slavyansk, military uniforms, camping tools and other things handy for guerrilla warfare.
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RUSSIA ON EASTERN UKRAINE SHOOTING: KIEV MUST FULFILL
GENEVA DE-ESCALATION PLEDGE
Published time: April 20, 2014
The Russian Foreign Ministry
expressed outrage over the deadly gun battle on Saturday night in the
protester-held city of Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine. It said Kiev must deliver
on its commitment to de-escalate the violence.
Russia, Ukraine, the US and the EU
agreed this week in Geneva on a roadmap to calm tension down in protest-gripped
eastern Ukraine. The agreement includes disarmaming paramilitary groups on both
sides of the conflict.
Yet on Saturday night an apparent raid by a Right
Sector radical paramilitary unit ended with up to 6 people killed in Slavyansk,
a city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region controlled by anti-Kiev protesters.
Moscow condemned the violence on
Sunday and said it indicates Kiev’s unwillingness to implement the Geneva
agreement.
“The
Russian side is outraged with the provocation, which indicates that Kiev is
unwilling to put in check and disarm nationalists and extremists,” the ministry said in a statement.
The
ministry added that Moscow “insists on the strict implementation by the
Ukrainian side of its commitments to de-escalate the situation in southeastern
Ukraine.”
The Geneva document agreed on Thursday
after marathon negotiations is aimed at defusing the Ukrainian political
crisis. In addition to disarming paramilitary groups, it provides for an
amnesty for protesters not involved in violent crimes and preparation of
constitutional reform to provide greater autonomy for Ukrainian regions.
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