Protests in Kiev demand action in Eastern Ukraine

Kiev protesters demand resignation of interior minister Avakov – media

Voice of Russia,

15 April, 2013

Participants in the council, which met on Monday at the Independence Square in Kiev, went to the Verkhovna Rada and called for the resignation of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and demanded decisive actions of the authorities in eastern Ukraine, said "Gromadska TV." "They want Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, Acting President Alexander Turchinov and NSDC Secretary Andrew Paruby to come out to them", the report says.

However, police in Kiev told "Interfax-Ukraine" agency that there are about one hundred and fifty people near the parliament building, but the police did not specify whether these people are committing any offense, and if the police is responding to their actions.

In return, "Praviy Sector" stated that "despite the spontaneous protest, society's demands are clear and unambiguous: it does not want to continue to tolerate the anti-popular minister Avakov and treacherous policy of the government as a whole. People demand Turchinov and Avakov come directly to the Verkhovna Rada. "

From the nationalist Kyiv Post

Protesters gather outside Rada, demand Avakov's resignation, government intervention in eastern Ukraine

Kyiv Post,

15 April, 2014

Interim President Oleksandr Turchynov 's 9 a.m. deadline for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to lay down their arms has passed without Ukrainian launching any military action. Turchynov had threatened to launch “a full-scale anti-terrorist operation” against separatists, but not only has that not happened, he called for a national referendum on greater regional autonomy. 

Armed Russian-backed militants, meanwhile, continued to stay on the offensive and took over government buildings in Donetsk Oblast, the latest one being the Horlivka police station.

Live streams from Donetsk Oblast: Horlivka city.

11:30 p.m. -- Protesters gather outside Rada, demand Avakov's resignation, government intervention in eastern Ukraine

Activists have marched on the Verkhovna Rada, demanding that the central government take action to quell the uprisings that have spread throughout much of eastern Ukraine since April 6. The protesters are calling for the resignation of Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. 

Protesters in Kyiv and elsewhere have expressed frustration at the government's reluctance to send troops to eastern Ukraine to combat the separatist movements that are devouring large swaths of the country.

Praviy Sektor, the far-right political group that was integral in ousting former President Victor Yanukovych, wrote on its Facebook page that "people have refrained from storming the building, but have lit a small fire outside the entrance to Parliament."

However, Pravyi Sector spokesman Artem Skoropadsky said "it's not Pravyi Sector who's storming the parliament building now," Skoropadsky wrote on his Facebook page. 

"Maidan activists and those who gathered near Verkhovna Rada now are just those ordinary Ukrainians who can't stand the new government's policy anymore. Those are people who want to see Praviy Sektor in a new government, because we are ready to combat the coup in eastern Ukraine," Skoropadsky said.

According to Interfax, about 150 people are currently outside the Rada. -- Isaac Webb

Turchynov signs decree on terror threat 

6 p.m. -- Interim President Oleksandr Turchynov signed into law a decree from the National Security and Defense Council entitled " On urgent measures to deal with the terrorist threat and the territorial integrity of Ukraine."

The details of the decree, which was passed in accordance with articles 107 and 112 of the Ukrainian constitution, are secret. -- Isaac Webb

Masked pro-Russia activists looks on during a pro-Russia rally outside the regional police building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Horlivka (Gorlovka), near Donetsk, on April 14. About 100 pro-Russia protesters armed with bats and rocks stormed a police station in the east Ukrainian town of Horlivka on April 14, smashing its windows and grabbing metal shields from police. Ukraine's interim president on April 14 made a dramatic about-face aimed at defusing tensions in the separatist east by backing a national referendum on turning the ex-Soviet republic into a federation with broader regional rights. (AFP)

Turchynov calls for deployment of United Nations peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine

5 p.m. -- Interim President Oleksandr Turchynov has called on the United Nations to deploy peacekeepers to help diffuse the increasingly chaotic situation in eastern Ukraine.

In a phone conversation with UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, Turchynov suggested that UN peacekeeping forces might be able to conduct a joint "anti-terrorist operation" with Ukrainian security forces. 

Deployment seems unlikely however, as it would have to be approved by the Security Council. Russia is one of five permanent members on the Security Council and has the power to veto any resolution.

Turchynov's request comes as pro-Russian separatists in the eastern city of Horlivka stormed the city's police station and called on the city to join newly formed Donetsk People's Republic. -- Isaac Webb

Conflicting reports about death of Horlivka police chief.

4:50 p.m. -- News website URA-Inform is reporting that the Horlivka police chief Andrei Kryshchenko has died as a result of injuries suffered at the hands of pro-Russian separatists who stormed the police station this afternoon. 

The URA-Inform report alleges that the chief died in an ambulance on the way to the hospital. 

InfoResist, meanwhile has refuted URA-Inform's reports. InfoResist called the hospital where Kryshchenko was admitted, which reported that "he is alive, he is healthy, everything is okay." -- Isaac Webb

An Ukrainian police officer exits the police station in Horlovka after it was stormed by pro-Russian separatists. The raid appears to have been coordinated by Moscow: one of the men who organized the raid identified himself as a Russian lieutenant colonel. (@Segozavr)

Russian lieutenant colonel led storming of Horlivka 

police station

3:20 p.m. -- A video has surfaced of a man who identifies himself as a Russian lieutenant colonel organizing police officers shortly after pro-Russian separatists stormed and took control of the police station in Horlivka.

According to Ukrainska Pravda, the man is from Simferopol and carries a Russian passport. 

The video (in Russian) can be found here

This information complements reports from journalists on the ground in Horlivka, who say that the seizure of the police office was coordinated by the Russian government.

BuzzFeed's Max Seddon tweeted that “A local cameraman in Horlivka says he got a call from Russian TV three hours ago asking if he could film the raid that was forthcoming.” 

One officer was wounded in the raid. He was taken to a nearby hospital in an ambulance. -- Isaac Webb

Tymoshenko calls for armed resistance

2:15 p.m. -- Former Prime Minister and Batkivshchyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko called Ukrainians for general mobilization. She also backed the government's decision to use military force against separatists in the east.

"I ask leaders of the world to provide direct military help to Ukrainian people who have been fighting for their freedom and dies for it. I ask the leaders to act," reads Tymoshenko's statement. -- Olga Rudenko

Party of Regions to meet in Donetsk

2:05 p.m. -- Donetsk's branch of the Party of Regions will have an urgent convention in Donetsk on April 16. 

"The convention will aggregate demands (of people of Donetsk Oblast) and bring them to the government," the party's statement says. -- Olga Rudenko

Protesters stand along barricades in Sloviansk. Since April 6, separatist movements have flared up across Donetsk oblast and other parts of eastern Ukraine. Thus far, four people have died. (@HromadskeTV)

Pro-Russian rioters storm police headquarters in Horlivka; Turchynov considers a national referendum

12:34 p.m. -- Pro-Russian rioters have stormed the police station in the city of Horlivka, a city of 290,000 people in Donetsk oblast.

Before seizing the building, protesters threw rocks at windows and set small fires on the ground floor, which police officers promptly extinguished. Police initially lobbed stun grenades to repel the attacking protesters. 

Riot police briefly met protesters outside the building, before being pushed back and cordoned off. The separatists chanted "police with the people" during the brief engagement.

Protesters flew a Russian flag from a portable flagpole.

Gunfire in the eastern city of Sloviansk has left four people dead, including two Security Service of Ukraine officers and two civilians. © Kostyantyn Chernichkin

Meanwhile in Kyiv, President Turchynov said that he was not opposed to holding a nation-wide referendum on greater regional autonomy alongside the May 25 presidential elections.

“Any changes to the constitution demand wide discussion in all the regions of Ukraine,” said Turchynov

The interim president said that he was "certain that a large majority of Ukrainians at this referendum, which, when the parliament decides so, could be held alongside the presidential election, will favor an indivisible, independent, democratic and unified Ukraine." -- Isaac Webb

Russian military in combat readiness, says expert

11:20 a.m. -- "Russian military units that stand near Ukraine's border were were brought to the condition of full combat readiness," Dmytro Tymchuk, head of Kyiv-based Center for Military and Political Studies, said on April 14.

"At the same time, we didn't see an increasing of the numbers of Russian military based near the border," he added.

Tymchuk also said that during the last 24 hours big groups of "people of sporty appearance" were seen arriving to Moldova's capital Chisinau from Russia. From Chisinau they depart to Transnistria in organized groups.

Earlier on April 14 Tymchuk said, referring to his own sources, that the network of agents working for Russian intelligence services was formed in the eastern Ukraine in 2010-2013, during the rule of former president Viktor Yanukovych. -- 

Olga Rudenko

Four dead in Sloviansk violence

11:03 a.m. -- Sergei Taruta, governor of the Donetsk Oblast administration, said that an “anti-terrorist operation” has begun in the region, according to Interfax-Ukraine news service.

Journalists on the ground in Sloviansk, however, said that there were no signs of a large-scale anti-terrorist operation thus far. 

TSN television channel reported that two SBU (Security Service of Ukraine) officers and two civilians were killed in gunfire in the city of Sloviansk on April 13. The press service of the Donetsk Oblast State Administration said that nine people were wounded in clashes in Sloviansk.

Andriy Parubiy, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said that Ukrainian special forces have arrested Russian intelligence officers in eastern Ukraine. He told Hromadske TV that “those who we are seeing in eastern Ukraine are terrorists, coming from abroad.”

In an interview on April 13, presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko said she was against the use of force in the the east: "The first option is the immediate use of force, which would almost certainly lead to large-scale bloodshed, and, likely, to an aggressive response from the Russian Federation. This is an option that the responsible leaders of the country, in my opinion, cannot accept."

Tymoshenko said that the second and best option is to "conduct negotions at the highest international level. And that is what everyone is hoping for today." -