Bloodshed in Ukraine

Western media has long distorted events. However in this case it is no more than parody and lies

Kiev allows police to use firearms, demands armed rioters lay down weapons

Ukrainian Interior Minister has signed orders allowing security forces to use firearms in mass riots. The move comes after three more police have been killed by gunfire and more than 100 injured in shootouts since Tuesday, according to the Ministry.

RT,

20 February, 2014

As part of the work of the antiterrorist center of the Security Service of Ukraine, I have signed the respective orders – the law enforcers have been handed combat weapons, which will be used in accordance with the law of Ukraine,” Interior Minister Vitaly Zakharchenko said in a statement.

Zakharchenko then addressed the armed rioters, demanding that they lay down their arms.

“The Interior Ministry demands that the extremists voluntarily lay down their weapons and return to peaceful protesting. The leaders and representatives of the opposition, who are able to make a sober estimate of the situation, must disassociate themselves from the radicals and must not support them any further,” the minister stressed in a statement published on the Interior Ministry website.

According to the Ukrainian law, police can use firearms “to protect citizens from attacks posing danger to life or health, to rescue hostages, to counter life-threatening attacks on police officers and members of their families,” as well as to thwart attacks on homes, government buildings or specially protected sites, Zakharchenko said.

Police are also entitled to use firearms to free seized government buildings and kidnapped law enforcers, he added. Rioters have seized 67 police officers, according to the Interior Ministry.

“During extremist attacks on law enforcers, 67 troopers were captured. So far, nothing is known regarding the state of their health and their fate,” the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier on Thursday, the Interior Ministry reported that some of the law enforcers in central Kiev have been allowed to use firearms in self-defense after gunmen opened fire at the police from windows of a building.

Western media talks about police snipers, but fails to mention the police being targeted by snipers

Ukraine bloodshed: Kiev death toll jumps to 75

At least 75 people have been killed in violent riots in Kiev, the Ukrainian Health Department has stated. Doctors working on Kiev’s Independence Square, however, claimed that as many as 70 people were killed on the rioters’ side alone on Thursday.

RT,

20 February, 2014

The death toll in the most violent wave of clashes between the rioters and the police in Kiev is likely to increase, as there are conflicting figures coming from the Health Department, city officials and the opposition.

As many as 550 people have been injured, according to official estimates.

The surge in the number of victims comes as both armed rioters and the police are now using live ammunition in clashes. Many of the protesters and police officers killed or injured since Tuesday sustained gunshot wounds. Police have officially been allowed to use firearms in accordance with the law by an order of the Ukrainian Interior Minister.

At the same time, the Ukrainian parliament voted against the anti-terrorism measures in the country, with 236 deputies casting their votes. The decision calls for a ceasefire and return of all security forces to their permanent deployment areas. The resolution also prohibits the use of firearms in certain situations and bans the blocking of public transport.

Violence escalated on Tuesday after a group of radicals taking part in a “peaceful march” of the opposition attempted to storm the building of the Ukrainian parliament (Verkhovna Rada). They were repelled by police cordons. The move came despite the agreement on amnesty finally reached between the government and the opposition.

The rioters then stormed and looted the nearby unprotected office of the ruling Party of Regions, also setting it on fire. One office worker was later found dead in the devastated building, with reports saying he died from smoke inhalation.

The clashes soon grew bloody, with footage showing masked rioters firing rifles and pistols at the police in central Kiev and reports describing dead protesters with gunshot wounds.

As the situation increasingly spiraled out of control, both the Ukrainian government and the opposition blamed each other. While the government demanded that the riots stop and the armed protesters lay down their weapons, speakers on Independence Square (Maidan) demanded that police leave central Kiev. Despite the truce agreed between President Viktor Yanukovich and the leaders of the opposition, the violence continued as armed rioters did not heed the words coming from Maidan.

Meanwhile, the US, the EU and NATO lay full responsibility on the Ukrainian government, threatening it with “consequences” and sanctions. Individual sanctions for 20 Ukrainian politicians have already been imposed by Washington. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the actions of the Western states “resemble blackmail,” and he urged condemnation of the actions of “radicals and extremists, who are mostly responsible for violence and bloody riots.”

The so-called Maidan leaders must “immediately stop bloodshed” and “continue seeking a peaceful resolution to the crisis without threats or ultimatums,” Lavrov stressed. The Foreign Ministry also reminded in a statement that any sanctions other than those imposed by the UN Security Council are “absolutely illegitimate.”

Sniper war

Until this week, snipers shooting people in central Kiev have been little more than unsupported hearsay. But on Thursday, both security forces and rioters were filmed stalking the streets with rifles.

RT’s crew narrowly avoided being shot by sniper fire while standing next to a window. RT’s Aleksey Yaroshevsky reported that unidentified snipers were firing from buildings all around Independence Square.

Correspondent Egor Piskunov and his camera crew were also caught in the crossfire as they tried to film Independence Square from the Hotel Ukraine. One of the bullets grazed the bulletproof vest of journalist Danil Asimov as he stood by the window on the 14th floor of the Kiev hotel.

Armed rioters then seized the hotel, using its windows to fire at police.

Meanwhile here is footage purporting to show government snipers