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Ukraine's security forces allowed pro-Russian protesters to rule the streets of the second-biggest city in Donetsk region on Saturday as the self-styled "People's Republic" prepared for Sunday's referendum on independence. The withdrawal followed one of the bloodiest military operations of the crisis, when the National Guard used heavy machine guns mounted on BMP combat vehicles to bombard the police headquarters in the city of Mariupol, driving out a group of insurgents. This battle on Friday claimed at least five lives and possibly more than 20. But on Saturday the security forces vanished from the centre of Mariupol, taking up station...

KYIV, April 30 /Ukrinform/. Deputies of the Party of Regions and the Communist Party do not act as the opposition, but as a fifth column in the Verkhovna Rada, so there is an urgent need to hold new parliamentary elections. People's deputy of Ukraine (Svoboda faction) Andriy Illienko has said this on air of the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. "From the Party of Regions, the Communist Party we hear in the Verkhovna Rada about the same positions, which Putin has, and in practice we see that their MPs and their party organizations are actively involved in separatist activities in eastern...

KYIV, April 30 /Ukrinform/. Ukraine's acting President, Verkhovna Rada Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov has admitted that the authorities do not control the situation in Donetsk region. He said this during a meeting with heads of regional state administrations in Kyiv on Wednesday. "Administrative buildings have been captured in many cities of Donetsk region and in the city of Donetsk. Today the authorities do not control the situation here," Turchynov said. He also noted that the security forces in the region cannot take the situation under control. "The main reason, of course, is that the security structures in these regions - Donetsk...

BELGRADE -- Metropolitan of Montenegro Amfilohije has strongly criticized Montengerin Prime Minister Milo Đukanović for the decision to impose sanctions against Russia. Amfilohije (Tanjug) This dignitary of the Serb Orthodox Church spoke during the promotion in Belgrade on Tuesday of Leonid Reshetnikov's book, "To Return to Russia". Amfilohije recalled the words of Montenegro's 18th and 19th century ruler and military and religious leader Petar I Petrović Njegoš (Saint Peter of Cetinje), and advised Đukanović to "read them carefully." "'May he who is not not loyal to the same-language, same-blood Russia, have the living flesh fall off him, may he be...

KYIV, April 29 /Ukrinform/. The law enforcement agencies are not ready to use weapons against those who seize administrative buildings, NSDC Deputy Secretary Viktoria Siumar told reporters on Tuesday in Donetsk. "The threat to life and health is very serious, and we see that in fact the law enforcement agencies are not ready to act, that is to shoot to kill when protecting the objects," Siumar noted. According to her, the terrorists attack telecommunications facilities in large groups, therefore it is difficult to resist. "We, of course, had warned about the dangers of relevant and related plans, gave the addresses...

(Reuters) - Hundreds of pro-Russian separatists stormed government buildings across one of Ukraine's provincial capitals on Tuesday and opened fire on police holed up in a regional headquarters, a major escalation of the rebellion in defiance of new Western sanctions. Meanwhile Russian share prices rose in relief at the mildness of the newly announced U.S. and European sanctions over Moscow's involvement in the crisis, which amounted mainly to adding a small number of names to existing blacklists while putting off threats to take more serious measures. Demonstrators smashed their way into the provincial government headquarters in Luhansk, Ukraine's easternmost province,...

Ukrainian nationalists in western Ukrainian city of Lviv have held a rally in commemoration of a Nazi SS division created in 1943, despite a ban asking them to stop. One attendee said "This march is to commemorate the Galician division, which had nothing to do with the divisions of the Waffen SS. Their oath of allegiance was for Ukraine. They are our heroes and that is why we honour them every year." A woman shouts to the crowd during the Lviv rally. Credit: APTN Past marches have led to clashes between marchers and Soviet army veterans and left-wing groups. Also...

According to information available, in Romania military units are moving towards the eastern borders - a military echelon loaded with anti-aircraft guns, trucks and ground -to- air missile systems has moved via Bucharest towards the Black Sea port of Constanta. The military units are needed for conducting joint military exercises with the participation of the US servicemen and four American F-16 fighter jets, according to the Romanian Defense Ministry officials told newsmen. "The maneuvers will be held in compliance with the plan on strategic partnership existing between Romania and the US," Romanian Minister of National Defense Mircea Dusa announced. Earlier...

According to reports of eyewitnesses the attackers fired M-16 assault rifles © © ЕРА/ANASTASIA VLASOVA DONETSK, April 27, /ITAR-TASS/. Unknown people clad in camouflage uniforms have opened fire on a block post located bear the Ukrainian city of Soledar in the immediate vicinity of an ammunition depot, the press service of the government of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) confirmed. According to preliminary unconfirmed reports of eyewitnesses, only one people’s militia fighter of those who came under has fire survived, the rest were killed. According to the eyewitnesses, the attackers fired M-16 assault rifles. At the same time, a representative...

Father talks of losing his son, who was killed after joining the 'self-defence' groups fighting the Ukraine administration Vladimir Lubenets mourns his son Aleksandr, who was killed during the checkpoint attack yesterday in Slavyansk Photo: DAVID ROSE By Harriet Salem, Slavyansk7:28PM BST 25 Apr 2014 Vladimir Lubenets heard a short burst of gunfire near his home on the outskirts of rebel-controlled Slavyansk and tried desperately to contact his son Aleksandr. “I phoned everyone, and eventually someone told me, 'I’m sorry the boy is gone’.” Between sobs, the distraught father said his son was shot in the back, a few days...

The cash-stripped Ukrainian Interior Ministry is asking the public for donations to equip the newly formed special forces. It is offering a place in a public commission, which would control the cash flow, to biggest donors. Follow LIVE updates on military operation unfolding in eastern Ukraine The ministry has recruited 8,000 out of a planned 12,000 troops since April 13, when Interior Minister Arsen Avakov decided to form the new units in response to the wave of protests in eastern Ukraine. But it lacks the money to properly equip them, it said in a statement. “The state budget allocates funds...

" Right sector" creates battalion "Donbass" to fight the separatists in the eastern regions of Ukraine. At a press conference, said the leader of the "right sector," a presidential candidate Dmitry Jaros , transmits media center "Dnepr Post." " We support the Geneva agreement , but we see that the invaders do not understand the peace talks , and the only way to get rid of them - is to conduct a quick and decisive counter-terrorist operation . " Right sector " ready to take part in it , and has already provided ready for fighting people. ... I declare...

<p>Eastern Ukrainians enraged by the Kiev military operation have used an RT video report to tell first-hand details of a Ukrainian army attack in Slavyansk. The Ukrainian troops raided a checkpoint and took all the food and medicine, they said.</p>

Residents from port of Odessa have built checkpoints near town to stop pro-Russian separatists entering from Transdniestria Share 29 inShare 0 Email Reuters in Kiev theguardian.com, Friday 25 April 2014 08.28 BST A Ukrainian policeman mans a checkpoint on the road near Barvinkove. Photograph: Anatoliy Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images Seven people were injured overnight at a pro-Ukrainian checkpoint near Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odessa when an explosive device blew up, local police said. Residents in the town have built several checkpoints near the town aimed at stopping pro-Russian separatists entering from Moldova's breakaway territory of Transdniestria. "It was an explosive device....

“The propaganda bullhorn that is the state-sponsored RT program has been deployed to promote – actually, RT network – has been deployed to promote President Putin’s fantasy about what is playing out on the ground,” Kerry said. Furthermore, he said RT spends almost all its time “propagandizing and distorting what is happening, or not happening, in Ukraine.” Dismissing the entire eastern Ukrainian, anti-Maidan movement as being sponsored and controlled by Moscow, Kerry did not address allegations of American involvement in Ukraine. Earlier this week, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that America was “running the show in Ukraine” and referenced...

Self-defence troops have confirmed they attacked a Ukrainian military helicopter at an airfield in eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. A plume of smoke can be seen rising over the area in a number of online videos. Follow RT’s LIVE UPDATES on military operation in eastern Ukraine “Our people approached the airfield, shot a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) in the direction of the helicopter. There was an explosion. [Kiev] militants started shooting and we [protesters] retreated,” a representative from the Kramatorsk self-defence troops told RIA Novosti. А video posted online shows a loud explosion at the site where a plume of smoke...

A special operation against pro-federalization protesters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk has been put on hold, Ukrainian media said Thursday citing law enforcement sources. Kiev Post said the decision was made by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), and the authorities are now revising the plan of the operation. The Kiev-based paper also said that at least seven people were killed in the crackdown on protesters, who have been demanding greater autonomy for their regions since late March. Federalization supporters in the eastern cities of Kharkov, Donetsk, Gorlovka, Slavyansk and Kramatorsk have refused to recognize the legitimacy of...

Fighting has erupted just outside Slavyansk, a town in east Ukraine where population voiced their protest against Kiev authorities. Ukrainian troops on tanks and armored vehicles are trying to break into the town. According to Ukrainian Interior ministry, at least five self-defense guards have been killed and one policeman injured after the ‘antiterrorist operation’ launched by Kiev in the city. Three checkpoints erected by the anti-government protesters have also been destroyed. Witnesses report on Twitter lavyansk self-defense forces are now burning tires to hamper the entrance of infantry vehicles from Kiev into the city. Ukraine army attack have just driven...

Kiev authorities must “immediately” deescalate the situation in southeast Ukraine by withdrawing its troops from the region, Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said, adding that Kiev must start nationwide talks and stop “distorting” the Geneva agreement. Follow RT’s LIVE UPDATES on military operation in eastern Ukraine “The Russian side once again insists on an immediate deescalation of the situation in the southeast of Ukraine, the withdrawal of divisions of the Ukrainian Army and the start of a real inter-Ukrainian dialogue including all the regions and political entities of the country,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website. Moscow...

Do they prove anything? What comes across from the photos is that at least one unit of heavily armed, well-equipped, pro-Russian paramilitaries has been operating in the Donetsk region. But it cannot be said for sure that they are actual Russian special forces, as the Ukrainians argue. At the same time, the idea that they might be a local militia from Donetsk is belied by their apparent military professionalism. Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week there were "no Russian units, special services or instructors in the east of Ukraine" but such denials of military involvement ring hollow for many...