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European observers freed as death toll mounts
Live Observers released by pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine as scores die in Odessa
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Latest“The Kyiv Post's Christopher Miller has posted these pictures of burnt trolley buses in Kramatorsk.” Latest developments
- Ukraine launches fresh dawn attacks
- US, Merkel warn Russia of sanctions
- Putin: Geneva agreement not viable
- Editorial: Kiev's eastern question
European observers freed after scores die in Ukrainian clashes: Live updates
Live- Seven OSCE observers released by pro-Russian separatists in Slovyansk
- Ukrainian troops block major roads into Slovyansk as centre of city remains in pro-Russian's control
- Ukrainian government forces take control of TV tower in Kramatorsk after fatal clashes
- More than 30 killed in Odessa after rioting and fire in trade union building
A woman argues with Ukrainian Interior Ministry security forces members during a rally outside a trade union building in Odessa, May 3, 2014. Photograph: GLEB GARANICH/REUTERS LiveSort by:
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The Kyiv Post's Christopher Miller has posted these pictures of burnt trolley buses in Kramatorsk.
Shells of burned-out trolley buses here in #Kramatorsk pic.twitter.com/n9gfpckSZ4
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) May 3, 2014AFP have published a useful timeline of recent events.
The unrest started in the east and south of the former Soviet republic after pro-European protesters forced the Kremlin-backed government in Kiev from power on February 22.
- APRIL 2014 -
- 6: Tensions soar when pro-Russian demonstrators seize local government buildings in several towns in eastern Ukraine, including Donetsk, Kharkiv and Lugansk.
- 7: Pro-Russians occupying offices in Donetsk declare an "independent republic".
Ukraine's government accuses Russia of wanting to invade the country and break it up.
- 12: Pro-Russian militants launch offensives in the towns of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, to the north of Donetsk, where they take over the police headquarters.
- 13: Kiev announces an "anti-terrorist" operation in the east.
- 16: Ukrainian troops turn back from Slavyansk, after pro-Russians seize six armoured vehicles.
Militants seize Donetsk town hall.
- 17: A deal is reached in Geneva between Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the European Union to "de-escalate" tensions.
- 18: The Kremlin confirms Russia has built up its military presence on the border. NATO puts the deployment at 40,000 troops.
- 20: The leader of pro-Russian demonstrators in Slavyansk appeals to Moscow to send in peacekeeping troops after a deadly shootout.
- 21: In Lugansk, protesters pledge to hold their own local referendum on autonomy on May 11.
- 22: In Kiev, US Vice President Joe Biden says Russia faces "isolation". Washington orders 600 soldiers to Poland and the ex-Soviet Baltic states.
- 23: Russia says it will respond if its interests are attacked in Ukraine.
- 24: Ukraine's military launches assault on Slavyansk. Up to five rebels are killed, according to Kiev. Russian President Vladimir Putin describes it as a crime that will "have consequences".
- 25: Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accuses Moscow of seeking to trigger a "third world war".
A group of OSCE military observers are detained in Slavyansk.
- 26: Yatsenyuk cuts short a Vatican trip to see Pope Francis, saying Russian warplanes violated Ukraine's airspace seven times overnight. Russia denies the claim.
- 27: Rebels say the OSCE observers are "prisoners of war" and present them in front of the press, where they say they have not been mistreated.
- 28: West imposes new sanctions on Moscow. Russia vows a "painful" response.
Russia says troops have returned to barracks after conducting exercises on the border with Ukraine. The West says there is no sign of this pull-back.
Russia assures the US it will not invade Ukraine.
- 29: Russia warns sanctions could harm Western interests in Russia's lucrative energy sector, denies there are Russian forces in eastern Ukraine.
- 30: Kiev says its armed forces are on "full combat alert" against a possible Russian invasion. Interim president Oleksandr Turchynov admits Kiev is "helpless" to prevent rebels over-running towns.
The International Monetary Fund approves $17-billion aid deal for the beleaguered Ukrainian economy.
-MAY-
- 1: Some 300 pro-Russian militants seize the prosecutor's office in Donetsk amid violent clashes with police.
Conscription reintroduced for all Ukrainian men aged 18-25.
- 2: The bloodiest day since new government came to power. At least nine die in fresh army assault on Slavyansk.
In the southern port city of Odessa, at least 42 die after clashes between pro-Russian militants and supporters of national unity ends in a massive blaze.
Russia declares the Geneva peace plan dead and calls an emergency UN Security Council meeting.
Obama says will step up sanctions if Moscow destabilises Ukraine before planned May 25 elections.
- 3: The rebels in Slavyansk release the seven OSCE inspectors after intervention by a Kremlin envoy.
The BBC's Jeremy Bowen speaks for many when he recalls similarities between the Ukraine today and the breakup of Yugoslavia after 1989.
Reuters reports that the head of Ukraine’s anti-terrorist centre said there was heavy fighting in the eastern town of Kramatorsk, south of the rebel stronghold Slavyansk.
Offering few details, Vasyl Krutov told a news conference: “There is gunfire and clashes around Kramatorsk … what we are facing in the Donetsk region and in the eastern regions is not just some kind of short-lived uprising, it is in fact a war.”
UpdatedAFP has a fuller report of Dmitry Peskov's comments to RIA Novosti.
Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman said it would be absurd to conduct snap polls in Ukraine amid the raging violence, saying the Kremlin no longer had any influence over rebels in the country's east.
"We do not understand what elections in Kiev they are talking about in European capitals and Washington," Dmitry Peskov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
"Obviously, on the basis of the current constitution, during military operations, a reprisal raid and mass killings, speaking about some sort of elections is absurd to say the least."
Ever since Moscow took control of Ukraine's Russian-speaking peninsula of Crimea in March, the West has been on tenterhooks expecting Russia to move troops to Kremlin-friendly eastern Ukraine.
But many analysts have suggested Russia will stop short of invading east Ukraine and will instead seek to compromise presidential polls on May 25 in a bid to retain influence in the neighbouring Slavic country.
Peskov also said that Russia could no longer influence events on the ground in eastern Ukraine, which have plunged Russia's ties with the West to their lowest point since the Cold War.
"From now on Russia... has essentially lost influence over these people because it will be impossible to convince them to lay down arms" when there's a direct threat to their lives, the state RIA Novosti news agency quoted Peskov as saying.
He said Moscow was receiving "thousands of calls" from eastern Ukraine with requests for help and that Putin was "extremely concerned" by the new developments.
"An overwhelming majority literally demands active help from Russia," he said.
Peskov added: "The Russian president is extremely concerned by the way the situation is developing and the way it is being interpreted by the global community, in some countries of the global community."
Asked how Moscow would respond to the escalating crisis, Peskov told Russian news agencies: "I cannot answer this question, it's an absolutely new element for us."
"This is not a conflict where Russia is a participant, this is a conflict in Ukraine."
He spoke after at least nine were killed during Kiev's military offensive against pro-Moscow rebels in the Russian-speaking town of Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine.
On top of that, at least 42 people died in clashes and a fire in the city of Odessa.
Peskov said Putin was expressing condolences to relatives of those who perished in the Odessa fire, calling it a "reprisal raid," an emotive term used in Russian history textbooks to describe Nazi raids against peaceful civilians during World War II.Howard Amos says the atmosphere outside the union building in Odessa is tense.
Scuffles are breaking out between people gathered outside the trade union building – there are about 1,000 people here – although most are just spectators. Many people are in tears.
Two camera crews were attacked by one angry woman, who accused them of lying.
Natalya Yuraeva said she was an organiser of the pro-Russian encampment from where many had fled into the trade union building as it was attacked by pro-Ukrainian activists last night. The police turned up too late to halt the bloodshed, she said. “We phoned the police, the prosecutors and the security services.”UpdatedHoward Amos reports that the leading candidate in Ukraine’s presidential elections, Pyotr Poroshenko, has arrived in Odessa. Accompanied by the leader of Ukraine’s Udar party, Vitali Klitschko, he paid a fleeting visit to the site of the burnt-out trade union building.
Tatyana Fyodorovna, a local journalist, managed to speak to Klitschko briefly before he and Poroshenko were whisked away by their security. “He said that everything will be OK and that the police will completely reformed,” said Fyodorovna.
Yulia Tymoshenko, another candidate in the presidential election scheduled for 25 May, reportedly arrived in Odessa last night.
UpdatedPictures emerging from Kramatorsk suggest that more violence is taking place there today. By this morning at least one person had been killed and dozens injured as Ukrainian forces tried to regain control of the city from separatists.
UpdatedAmos reports that Ukraine’s security services have said that military groups co-ordinated by Russia were behind the violence in Odessa.
“The events took place with the participation of illegal military formation from the unrecognised territory of Transnistria co-ordinated with sabotage groups from the Russian Federation,” a spokesperson for the Ukrainian security forces said in Kiev.
UpdatedHoward Amos is in Odessa for the Guardian.
An angry crowd of several hundred people has gathered outside the burnt-out trade union building in Odessa. Many sympathise with the pro-Russian side and are furious at the police for not intervening to prevent Friday’s violence.
People are chanting “shame, shame, shame” and “Russia, Russia, Russia” and minor scuffles are breaking out between police and those present.
A cordon of riot police have sealed off the building, where over 40 people reportedly died.
One man who had been allowed inside the building came out crying. “They were burnt to a crisp inside,” said Alexander Kiselyov. “There is a mountain of corpses in there.”
Other people on the scene who said they had been inside the building said they had counted at least 15 bodies still inside.UpdatedIn Vienna, a spokeswoman for the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe confirmed the release of its observers.
“We can now confirm the release of the military observers. Staff of the special monitoring mission are now waiting to receive them,” the spokeswoman said.
UpdatedMeanwhile in Kiev, Lesya Orobets demonstrates her qualities in the battle for election for mayor of Kiev.
Here's some images from Odessa today and yesterday.
Pro-Russian activists beat a pro-Ukraine supporter trying to save the Ukrainian flag after it was removed from a flagpole outside the burned trade union building in Odessa on Saturday. Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images A young man helps another one during clashes between pro-Ukraine football fans and pro-Russian separatists in Odessa on Friday. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images Firefighters evacuate an injured man outside the burnt trade union building where more than 30 people died trying to escape during clashes in Odessa, Ukraine, on Friday. Photograph: Sergei Poliakov/AP UpdatedHere is a link to the story we were running overnight.
Ukraine said military operations against pro-Russian separatists in the industrial east of the country continued at dawn on Saturday near the town of Kramatorsk, vowing it would not stop a bid to dislodge them.
The interior minister, Arsen Avakov, said Ukrainian forces had seized control of a television tower in Kramatorsk, near the rebel stronghold of Slavyansk, but gave no information on possible casualties.
Slavyansk was the target on Friday of the most significant advance by Ukrainian forces since the start of an armed uprising in the east a month ago, stalled by well-armed separatists who brought down two military helicopters and dug in in the town of 130,000.
"The active phase of the operation continued at dawn," Avakov wrote on his Facebook page. "We are not stopping."Reuters reports that Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, said on Saturday that both the Kiev authorities and their backers in the West were directly responsible for bloodshed in the Ukrainian city of Odessa.
“Kiev and its western sponsors are practically provoking the bloodshed and bear direct responsibility for it,” RIA Novosti quoted Peskov as telling reporters.
Peskov also said Friday’s violence, in which dozens died, made the idea of holding presidential elections in Ukraine this month “absurd”.
UpdatedThe Russian government in Crimea is discovering the problems of popular protest as Crimean Tatars try to force the return of one of their leaders to his home.
On Friday, an estimated 38 people were killed in Odessa. Some were shot but most died in a fire when pro-Russian protesters fled Ukrainian activists and took shelter in the city trade union building. The building then caught fire, possibly from petrol bombs thrown at it.
Reuters has just reported that a spokesman for Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has said that Russia has lost control of pro-Russian rebels in the east and south of Ukraine.
UpdatedAP reports that the leader of pro-Russia insurgents in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk says the military observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe who were held for more than a week have been released.
A reporter saw one of the observers, German Colonel Axel Schneider, and his Ukrainian translator walk free. Vyacheslav Ponomarev told AP that all seven observers and their five Ukrainian assistants were free.
Insurgents in Slavyansk seized the observer team on 25 April.
Updated -
European observers freed after scores die in Ukrainian clashes: Live updates
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