The European Union Times |
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Posted: 28 Apr 2014 02:52 PM PDT
 Russia has raised concern over Ukraine’s military build-up in the region, urging members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to address the issue in an upcoming meeting. According to a statement released by the Russian Foreign Ministry on Monday, Kiev interim authorities have deployed 11,000 troops, 230 armored vehicles, 160 tanks and 150 artillery pieces to southeastern Ukraine. “The numbers and composition of this group exceed the numbers of the local citizens’ self-defense units by many times, and…allow one to speak of the possibility of indiscriminate and disproportionate use of force.… These facts should cause deep concern among OSCE member states,” the statement read. The ministry made the remarks as the Vienna-based pan-European security watchdog is set to hold an emergency meeting on the crisis in Ukraine later on Monday. The meeting is expected to discuss ways to help release a team of German-led observers who were detained by pro-Russian protesters in Ukraine’s eastern city of Slavyansk on April 25. The activists detained eight foreign mediators together with five Ukrainians, arguing that they were spying for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Two days later, they freed one of the eight military monitors on medical grounds. OSCE insists that the team was on a diplomatic mission and was not spying for NATO. However, Vyacheslav Ponomarev, the leader of pro-Russian protesters in Slavyansk, has said the detainees had a map marking the militia’s positions. On April 25, the Kiev government began the second phase of an operation to drive out pro-Russia activists from the country’s eastern parts, where pro-Russian protesters keep occupying state buildings in a number of towns and cities. Source           |
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Posted: 28 Apr 2014 02:01 PM PDT
 There’s gunfire, explosions and brutal clashes in the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine as fighting erupted between pro- and anti-govt protesters, RT’s stringer reports from the scene. 14 people have asked for medical assistance, with several hospitalized, after clashes in Donetsk, the regional administration told Interfax-Ukraine news agency. According to Novosti Donbassa (Donbas News), eight people have been taken to the city’s Kalinin hospital after violence broke out. The website also reports of a policeman being shell-shocked due to handmade grenade exploding near him. Pro- and-anti-Kiev protest rallies took place simultaneously in the city. According to RT’s stringer Graham Phillips, there were plenty of masked young men on both sides, and they were clearly looking for a fight. The police failed to contain the crowd as protesters clashed with each other, using firecrackers, smoke grenades, baseball bats and sticks. A group of about 1,000 “neo-Nazi thugs” has come to Donetsk from Dnepropetrovsk on Monday to cause provocations, the press-service of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk told RT. “We were expecting an attack. We had objective information. Really, the guys arrived with baseball bats, sticks and rods. Those were the ultras from Dnepropetrovsk, FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk supporters. According to our info, there were also people from FC Dynamo Kyiv fan base. I have no information of any Right Sector involvement,” Vitaly Ivanov, a press-service member, who was at the scene, stressed. Initially, there were about 200 local anti-Kiev activists, who went out “to meet them halfway in order to regain the initiative”, he said. “More and more people joined us at an incredible pace as we made our way… When we reached them [pro-Kiev radicals], there were around 1,000 of us,” Ivanov said. According to him, the ultras were “surrounded by the police, which was brought, especially, for the occasion” as the officers on the scene were from Kirovograd region, but not from the Donetsk force. “We were received with aggression. Smoke grenades were thrown at us. Several people got injured. Then there were a couple of small scuffles with the ultras. And then they just dispersed. They didn’t expect such a rebuff; that there’ll be so many of us,” he said. There were around 2,000 pro-Kiev demonstrators, who were marching on one of the main streets of the city, RT’s Paula Slier reports from Donetsk. When they crossed paths with a smaller rally of anti-government protesters, violent clashes erupted, she said. “I was among the group that is anti-Kiev. What I saw was both sides with their faces covered. There were Molotov cocktails and stones being thrown… Among the anti-Kiev crowd people were shouting: ‘Crimea! Donbass! Russia!” Slier reported. Source     |
