Ukraine Liveblog Day 26: Has the War Already Started? There are unconfirmed reports of two dead in Kharkiv, an explosion at Kharkiv University, and Russian paratroopers on the ground in mainland Ukraine. We’ll be tracking developments and sorting rumor from report as the day goes on. more ~ 1623 GMT: The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has released a statement on today’s reported Russian military incursion into the Kherson region (translated by The Interpreter: The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry expresses its decisive and categorical protest in connection with the landing on 15 March 2014 in the district of the settlement of Strelkovoye of Kherson Region of a platoon of soldiers from the Russian Federation Armed Forces numbering 80 persons, and the seizure of them of the settlement of Strelkovoye with the support of 4 combat helicopters and 3 combat armored vehicles. The Foreign Ministry demands that Russia immediately withdraw its armed forces from the territory of Ukraine. Ukraine reserves the right to take all necessary measures to end the military invasion by Russia. So the official statement is that there were 80 soldiers, with ground and air support. The video we posted earlier does seem to show four helicopters, though it jumps around a bit so it’s hard to confirm that there are only four. more ~ 1608 GMT: We have translated today’s statement from the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs: Soldiers continue to commit outrages in the Ukraine, including from Right Sector. On 14 March in Kharkiv, they organized a provocation against peaceful demonstrators who came to express their attitude to the so-called new government. As a result of gunfire opened by the fighters, two people were killed, and there are wounded. Alarming information is coming in that a column of armed hirelings of Right Sector have left Kharkiv and are headed to Donetsk and Lugansk, and their leaders have announced the opening of an “eastern front,” and that they are sewing Russian military uniforms at a sewing factory on an emergency basis. During the course of their meeting in London on 14 March, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov drew the attention of Secretary of State John Kerry to the danger of the decisions of the Verkhovna Rada on the legitimization of the Right Sector and other radicals through a path of turning them into the system’s power organizations, such as the National Guard. Furthermore, S.V. Lavrov urgently called on J. Kerry to use Washingston’s influence on Kiev to prevent the outburst of the ultanationalists. Many appeals are coming to Russia with a request to defend civilians. These appeals will be reviewed. In other words, any further violence, even if it is done by men in Russian uniforms, could be used by Moscow to justify military intervention in Ukraine — and not just in Crimea, but perhaps in all of eastern Ukraine. Note that Kharkiv, Donetsk and Lugansk are mentioned by name. interpretermag/ukraine-liveblog-day-26-has-the-war-already-started/
Posted on: Sat, 15 Mar 2014 18:57:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015