Seemorerocks: 'It's going to be a long weekend'

“They are not pro-Russian, they want a united Ukraine, a federalized Ukraine, a Finlandized Ukraine that is not allied with the EU and NATO or with Russia; it’s equidistant. And they want more autonomy in the eastern and southern provinces. This is what those 'militants' want in fact. And now they are being confronted by guns.”

--- Pepe Escobar

From Zero Hedge

On The Edge Of War: The Latest Russian And Ukraine Troop Movements

Zero Hedge,

2 May, 2014

If Putin needed a pretext to finally drive across the Ukraine border, he got it today following first the death of nearly 40 pro-Russian protesters in Odessa during a confrontation between pro-Russia and pro-Kiev forces, and then, what appears to be a storming in progress right now by the Ukraine national guard of yet another separatist-controlled city in east Ukraine: Kramatorsk.

According to RT, Ukraine’s National Guard is storming the eastern town of Kramatorsk even as it has also resumed its special operation in Slavyansk, where two soldiers have been killed.

“The assault is starting now,” a Kramatorsk self-defense activist has told RIA Novosti by phone. Another activist told the news agency that the National Guard opened fire on self-defense forces.

Dozens have been killed or injured in Kramatorsk, a doctor told RIA Novosti. The medic added that the fighting has now stopped and all of those injured have been taken to hospitals in Kramatorsk and Slavyansk. At least two died on the way to the hospital, she said.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military’s special operation has resumed in the nearby town of Slavyansk. The headquarters of the people’s self-defense is under snipers’ fire, according to Itar-Tass. There are reports of injuries among protesters.

Recall that Putin has made it very clear that all the Kremlin needs to green light an operation in Ukraine is a pretext of "self-defense" for the pro-Russian citizens currently there being attacked by the local military, something which if the tables were turned, would have been classified as a civil war by the impartial western media.

So what does the theater of operations look like should Russia finally get involved?

The Washington Post is publishing a new map that shows, using information from the Royal United Services Institute, recent troop movements in the region. The graphic illustrates how military exercises conducted by Russia have left a big build-up of troops on Ukraine's border. It also shows Ukraine's own military moves to its borders with Russia and Moldova's Russian-dominated enclave, Transnistria.

It may be a long weekend.

Is the Guardian finally forced to acknowledge the existence of of the fascist thugs - the Right Sector? Can they not airbrush them out of the narrative any more?

Ukraine clashes: dozens

reported dead after Odessa

building fire

Police say people choked to death on smoke or were killed jumping out of window after assault on trade union building

The Guardian,

2 May, 2014

More than 30 people were reported to have been killed in violent and chaotic clashes in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa on Friday as pro-Ukrainian activists stormed a building defended by protesters opposed to the current government in Kiev and in favour of closer ties with Russia.

Odessa's large Soviet-era trade union building was set alight as pro-Ukrainian activists mounted an assault as dusk fell. Police said at least 31 people choked to death on smoke or were killed when jumping out of windows after the trade union building was set on fire.

Bodies lay in pools of blood outside the main entrance as explosions from improvised grenades and Molotov cocktails filled the air. Black smoke from the building and a burning pro-Russian protest camp wreathed the nearby square.

Pro-Russian fighters mounted a last-ditch defence of the burning building, tossing masonry and Molotov cocktails from the roof on to the crowd below.

Medics at the scene said that the pro-Russian fighters were also shooting from the roof. At least five bodies with bullet wounds lay on the ground covered by Ukrainian flags as fire engines and ambulances arrived at the scene.

Some people fell from the burning building as they hung on to windowsills in an attempt to avoid the fire that had taken hold inside. Pro-Ukrainian protesters made desperate efforts to reach people with ropes and improvised scaffolding.

"At first we broke through the side, and then we came through the main entrance," said one pro-Ukrainian fighter, 20, who said he was a member of the extreme nationalist group Right Sector.

"They had guns and they were shooting … Some people jumped from the roof, they died obviously," he said.

Riot police arrived on the scene as hand-to-hand fighting was already underway inside, but did not enter the building and stood formed up in ranks outside.

Within two hours of the assault beginning, the resistance from pro-Russian activists inside the building seemed to have been quelled. Several fire crews were spraying the smouldering building with water and ambulances lined the streets outside.

Bloody and dazed pro-Russian protesters were eventually escorted out of the building, and were immediately surrounded by angry mobs. Many were handed over to police, and loaded on to police vans. Some were assaulted by the crowd,

"The aim is to completely clear Odessa [of pro-Russians]," said Dmitry Rogovsky, another activist from Right Sector whose hand had been injured during the fighting. "They are all paid Russian separatists."

The seizure of the trade union building was the violent culmination of a day of street battles in this Black Sea resort city.

The clashes reportedly began after protesters gathering for a rally in support of a unified Ukraine were attacked by pro-Russian activists armed with clubs and air pistols.

But the confrontation quickly escalated into a series of skirmishes as the two sides played a deadly cat and mouse game in the centre of the city.

Police largely stood aside as the two sides hurled Molotov cocktails, cobblestones and bricks at each other. Girls as young as fourteen were smashing cobblestones to break them up into missiles of a manageable size.

Combatants on both sides were armed with body armour, helmets and shields and carried baseball bats, chains, metal bars and air pistols.

For two and a half hours the police were absent, said Olga Gold, a teacher watching the unrest. "The authorities have been absolutely indifferent," she said.

Dozens of buildings and cars were damaged during the violence. Most of the cafes and bars in central Odessa, a popular holiday spot, were closed by early evening.

From the BBC