Ukraine's military on full combat alert as separatists rage in the east
Ukraine's military is "on full combat alert" against a possible Russian invasion, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov has said. His comments came after pro-Russian gunmen seized more buildings in the country's east.
Speaking to a ministerial meeting on Wednesday in Kyiv, interim President Turchynov said, "Our armed forces are on full combat alert," adding that "the threat of Russia starting a war against mainland Ukraine is real."
Ukraine has already deployed some troops to try to take back control in the east.
Ukraine's defense forces have been on high alert for several weeks as armed separatists have seized more than a dozen government buildings in eastern Ukraine despite an operation by Ukraine's army and police to oust the pro-Russian groups.
Ukrainian pilots are now burning tons of expensive aviation fuel to frighten rebellious cities into compliance by roaring fighter jets above the heads
Most recently, armed insurgents took control of the city council building and police station in the city of Horlivka in the Donetsk region on Wednesday morning.
Turchynov told the cabinet meeting that "our number one task is to prevent terrorism spreading from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions to other Ukrainian regions."
The interim president also urged "Ukrainian patriots" to bolster the beleaguered police force who he said are "unable to carry out their duties of protecting citizens. They are helpless in those matters. Moreover, some of those units are either helping or cooperating with terrorist organizations."
Russia has deployed tens of thousands of troops to its shared border with Ukraine. The move has been viewed by the international community as precursor to staging of a military intervention or annexation. The Black Sea peninsula of Crimea was annexed by Russia in March and Russian President Vladimir Putin asserts he has a "right" to send his forces into Ukraine but has not yet done so.
The West has accused Russia of fomenting the crisis and has imposed sanctions to try and get Moscow to back down ahead of Ukraine's upcoming presidential elections on May 25.
Eastern Ukraine is made up of a large Russian-speaking population and was the heartland of support for former president, Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted and fled to Russia in February.
The New York Times: 30. April 2014
Turchynov says police can’t control militias in east
The Acting President of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov says that the “overwhelming majority of security forces in the east are not able to carry out their duty to defend our citizens.”
As pro-Russian gunmen seized another city in eastern Ukraine on Wednesday, the country’s acting president said the government’s police and security officials were “helpless” to control events in large swaths of the region, where at least a dozen cities are now in the hands of separatists.
With the admission by the country’s acting leader, Oleksandr V. Turchynov, that major chunks of the country had slipped from the government’s grasp, the long-simmering conflict in Ukraine seemed to enter a new and more dangerous phase. It was also the latest in a string of successes for what the West has called Russia’s covert strategy to destabilize Ukraine and discredit the interim government ahead of presidential elections scheduled for May.
Speaking at a conference of regional leaders in Kiev, the capital, Mr. Turchynov said the “overwhelming majority of security forces in the east are not able to carry out their duty to defend our citizens” in the industrial and coal-mining regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Mr. Turchynov also said Ukrainian forces had been brought to “full military readiness” because of the threat of an invasion from Russia, which has asserted its right to protect ethnic Russians and the Russian-speaking population in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces have been trying for weeks to rein in the pro-Russian militants, mostly local men who the White House believes have been organized and equipped by Russian special forces members operating under cover.
Two weeks ago, Ukrainian troops in a column of 21 armored vehicles set out for Slovyansk, the separatists’ stronghold, in an apparent effort to rout the militants holding the city’s main administration building. But the column never made it, and the vehicles were commandeered by the pro-Russian forces as many of the Ukrainian troops abandoned their posts.
Pro-Russian separatists on seized Ukrainian armoured vehicles
In his remarks, Mr. Turchynov acknowledged as much, saying that some members of the military were “cooperating with terrorist organizations,” a reference to the pro-Russian militias.
Hours before Mr. Turchynov spoke, pro-Russian gunmen seized government buildings in Horlivka, expanding their control over a swath of territory nominally controlled by self-proclaimed “people’s republics” opposed to Kiev.
The men seized the city police building and the City Council building early Wednesday morning, according to Igor Dyomin, a spokesman for the police in the Donetsk region. Anti-Kiev protesters seized a regional police headquarters in the city earlier in April.
A pro-Russia activist hangs a flag of the so-called "People's Republic of Donetsk" on the regional administration building seized by separatists
On Tuesday, armed militants occupied the regional government headquarters and prosecutor’s office in the regional center of Luhansk. There was no resistance from the local police.
Mr. Turchynov last week resumed what he called an operation directed at ousting the masked, pro-Russian forces that have seized buildings in more than 10 Ukrainian cities and towns since March. Russian news organizations, citing evidence from satellite photographs, claim that Ukraine has mustered its military forces near Slovyansk for an attack on the city.
That operation has largely fallen flat, and pro-Russian forces have established a string of barricades and checkpoints on major highways throughout the two regions.
In Slovyansk, the most heavily fortified stronghold of the anti-Kiev movement in eastern Ukraine, the government said it had eliminated three roadblocks in early morning confrontations with anti-Kiev militiamen.
Pro-Russian armed men in military fatigues stand guard outside a regional administration building they seized in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk
Militiamen confirmed that there had been small skirmishes with gunmen at checkpoints in the northwestern part of the city, but they denied that any ground had been lost to government troops. Neither side reported casualties in the clashes.
The police have ceased to operate in Slovyansk, where a citywide curfew takes effect at midnight. Pro-Russian militants in the city have taken journalists, politicians and others captive, including a German-led team of seven — military observers and an interpreter — working under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Three bodies bearing signs of torture have been found in a river near the city in the last two weeks, but no suspects have been taken into custody. One of those killed was a lawmaker from Horlivka who had spoken out in favor of Ukrainian unity, and another was a pro-Ukrainian student from Kiev. The third body has not been identified.
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