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Ukrainian
APC with troops breaches Russian border
At least one Ukrainian armored vehicle crossed the Russian border with Ukraine Friday overnight and stopped in the Rostov Region, according to Russia’s Security Service. The military abandoned the vehicle and returned to Ukraine.
RT,
13
June, 2014
The
Ukrainian armored vehicle stopped in near the village of Millerovo,
said the head of the press department of the Federal Security Service
(FSB) in Rostov Region, Vasily Malaev.
In
response to the incident, the Russian Foreign Ministry said that the
“illegal
act”
will not promote a peaceful resolution of the conflict. The ministry
has also demanded an end to “provocations”
on the border, which are making dialogue between the two countries
much more difficult. The ministry directed a note of protest to Kiev
on Friday.
There
are also reports that there was not one, but two armored vehicles. A
source from the FSB told LifeNews Channel that two armored vehicles
crossed the Russian border.
Initially
just one APC entered Russian territory, however it broke down,
LifeNews was told. It was discovered by the Border Service, however,
Russia’s troops failed to take the Ukrainian military personnel
captive as another armored vehicle came to the rescue from Ukraine’s
Lugansk Region.
After
that the Ukrainian troops fled the territory, returning to Ukraine,
leaving the dsabled vehicle behind in Russia.
In
response to the incident, the Ukrainian Border Service said that the
military was surrounded by self-defense forces so they were forced to
cross the Russian border to reach new locations of their units, NTV
TV channel reported. Border authorities also assured that all 26
border officers returned to Ukraine via another checkpoint.
Earlier
on Friday, NATO warned that if reports that Russian tanks have
breached the Ukrainian border are confirmed, it would be serious
escalation of the conflict.
"We
have seen reports that Russian tanks and other armored vehicles may
have crossed the border into eastern Ukraine. If these reports are
confirmed, this would mark a serious escalation of the crisis in
eastern Ukraine,"
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Friday.
Fatalities
as Kiev's military 'reclaim' first eastern city
The city of Mariupol in eastern Ukraine has seen fierce fighting, with casualties reported as the National Guard attacked the self-defense forces' headquarters. Kiev says the city, part of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, has been reclaimed.
RT,
There
are conflicting reports in local media about the number of
self-defense troops killed in the coastal city, which is home to over
480,000 people. Media outlets reported that between five and seven
people were killed. The Donetsk city administration said that one was
killed and five others were injured.
Ukrainian Minister of
Interior Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page that three people
were killed, 17 were injured, and 41 people were detained.
People
are currently being treated in the local hospital, a resident told RT
over the phone.
The National Guard attacked the city early
Friday morning as part of Kiev’s punitive operation against the
self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.
“At
about 4:30 a.m. we heard loud noises and shooting from the center of
the city,” a local
resident told RT. “Two self-defense headquarters were
located in the city center – one belonging to militia and the other
to the DPR’s administration. Military operations started near them,
shooting and explosions were heard. The explosions continued until 7
a.m. (local time), probably. Then they became quieter.”
“Currently
the National Guard has left the city,” she
said, adding that police circled what was left of the self-defense
headquarters and barricades in the city center.
The
attackers were “people in black uniforms with white
armlets...armed with machine guns,” another
resident who witnessed the military operation told RT.
Following
the attack, newly elected President Petro Poroshenko ordered the head
of the Donetsk region’s administration and businessman Sergey
Taruta to temporarily transfer the headquarters of the region’s
administration to the port city of Mariupol, freed from self-defense
activists.
Kiev’s
punitive operation against Ukraine’s southeastern Donetsk and
Lugansk regions, which proclaimed themselves independent people’s
republics following regional referendums, has been ongoing since
April. Kiev’s military operations have intensified in the past few
weeks.
On
Thursday, the city of Dobropolya in Donetsk Region was shelled by
Grad multiple rocket launchers.
One
person died and another was injured at around 7:30 a.m. local time
(04:30 GMT). Several shells were fired at the city, said the head of
the Dobropolsky district, Oleg Kravchuk, in a video address on
Friday. The video address was published on a community page of the
city, on VKontakte social network.
The
shelling hit a vegetable warehouse which is still on fire, he
added.
“
”WARNING: GRAPHICVIDEO
One
of the main targets of Kiev’s artillery attacks has been the city
of Slavyansk, which has a population over 100,000 people. The
Ukrainian military has been shelling not only checkpoints controlled
by self-defense forces, but also residential areas.
Residents
are hiding in cellars without electricity and water, with no chance
to evacuate the besieged city.
On
Thursday, residents of Slavyansk and its suburbs were awoken
overnight by what they say were incendiary
bombsincendiary bombs that
were dropped on their city by Kiev’s military. Media reports
suggested that the bombs might be phosphorous
‘Bombardment
never stops’: E. Ukrainian refugees share horrors of Kiev military
op
Kiev does not care about civilians in eastern Ukraine, and people have to flee their homes amid daily bombings, Ukrainian refugees told RT at a temporary camp in Russia’s Rostov. It comes amid Kiev’s “lies” about humanitarian corridors, they said.
RT,
13 June, 2014
Thousands of eastern Ukrainians are flowing into Russia amid the ongoing Kiev military operation, in which the cities occupied by anti-government activists are being shelled and bombarded with heavy artillery and incendiary bombs.
Even in large regional centers like Lugansk, people no longer feel safe, as cases of Ukrainian jets launching missiles at central city buildings in broad daylight have been reported.
While many men and elderly people of eastern Ukraine are unwilling to leave their native land, women with children are flocking to Russia’s cities and regions to stay with relatives or friends. Those who have neither are heading for refugee camps in Rostov.
“According to the Federal Migration Service, more than 40,000 Ukrainian citizens have crossed into Rostov Region. As of today, about 4,000 Ukrainians have been housed in temporary accommodation centers,” a local Russian Emergencies Ministry official, Aleksandr Naumov, told RT.
Reporting from the Russian-Ukrainian border, RT’s Paul Scott interviewed several women, who said they left their husbands and relatives behind to get the children away from shooting, bombing, and air raids.
“We left because we are scared. The streets are empty – we are afraid to let our children go outside. They too got scared and nervous with the constant sound of gunfire and jets,” a woman said.
Another female refugee, who fled the embattled city of Slavyansk with two small children, shared the story of their desperate escape.
“
First we fled to Nikolayevka when the bombardment got intense. They then started bombing Nikolayevka too and we fled to Artyomovsk. In Artyomovsk, almost every night there were shootings, explosions, we heard how Grad [multiple rocket launchers] were fired at some places nearby...I can’t bear those sounds anymore,” the woman said while crying.
“The
[Ukrainian] National Guard is simply bombarding the people, killing
children. We fear for our children above all, we want them to be
alive and well,” she
explained.
One
of her sons has been having nightmares because he heard a shooting
close by at night, the woman said.
According
to the woman, her Ukrainian-speaking neighbors do not understand her
family and support Kiev’s military operation. Moreover, the
Ukrainian authorities and media are outright “lying” about
civilian corridors being organized for refugees, she said.
“It
is scary in this situation that the Ukrainian authorities, the
Ukrainian media are lying about humanitarian corridors being
organized – there is no such thing in reality. They are not letting
the people leave, and the bombardments never stop. They don’t give
a damn about us, the people of Donbas, Lugansk, they just need the
territory,” the
woman said.
OSCE
Secretary General Lamberto Zannier on Thursday visited Rostov to meet
with eastern Ukrainian refugees and hear their accounts of Kiev’s
military operation – a move which was welcomed by Moscow. Russian
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that talking to witnesses about
the events in eastern Ukraine is crucial for anyone wishing to get
a “full,
clear and impartial picture” of
what is happening there.
However,
Zannier outraged the refugees after saying that newly elected
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko “wants
prosperity for Ukraine and is ready to use every effort for
that.” The
witnesses of Kiev’s military operation responded by shouting: “No!
This is not our president, we did not elect him,” RIA
Novosti reported.
Meanwhile,
ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich on Friday recorded a
video address, in which he urged Kiev to stop the military operation.
Yanukovich,
who was born in Donetsk Region, said people there are “shocked
that instead of peace and stability [they got] a bloody
massacre” right
at the start of Poroshenko’s term.
“It
is unbearable to see those deaths, this hatred incited in the
not-so-long-ago peaceful country,” the
ousted Ukrainian leader said. Yanukovich wondered why European
leaders kept reminding him of the“unacceptability” of
the use of force against civilians in the wake of mayhem in Kiev, but
are now supporting the use of heavy artillery and jets against the
population of eastern Ukraine.
The
Russian Foreign Minister on Friday held a phone conversation with his
Ukrainian counterpart, Andrey Deshchitsa, in which he reminded Kiev
of its responsibility for handling the humanitarian situation in
eastern Ukraine.
“Lavrov
particularly stressed the importance of providing humanitarian aid to
the residents of southeastern Ukraine, the creation of appropriate
conditions for a safe passage of refugees to the territory of the
Russian Federation,” the
Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement
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