Protests in the east of Ukraine
Local self-defense forces seize city councils and police departments; people demand referendums on the status of their regions. Kiev decided to respond to the protests with force, sending troops and armored vehicles to the east of Ukraine as part of the antiterrorist operation.
The political crisis began in Ukraine at the end of November 2013, when Viktor Yanukovych suspended the so-called “European integration” of the country. Mass protests, called "euromaidan" resulted in January in clashes between armed radicals and law enforcement agencies. 22 February 2014 in Ukraine there was a violent seizure of power. On February 27, the Ukrainian parliament approved the composition of the “government of national trust”; Arseniy Yatsenyuk became the prime minister.
Some observers call this the next “color revolution”, similar to the “orange” one in 2004, organized by American political technologists with the aim of overthrowing unwanted power.
Supporters of federalization are storming administrative buildings. Kharkiv, 6 April 2014. (Photo by Sergey Bobok | AFP | Getty Images):
Donetsk, 6 April 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Mikhail Maslovsky):
Donetsk, 6 April 2014. (Photo by Alexander Khudoteply | AFP | Getty Images):
Participants of protest movements. In Russia, they are called "supporters of federalization", in Kiev - by terrorists, in the West - by "pro-Russian activists".
Slavyansk, April 14 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Gleb Garanich):
City Hall in Donetsk, April 16 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Stringer):
Barricades outside the regional administration building in Donetsk, April 10 2014. (Photo AP Photo | Efrem Lukatsky):
Barricades outside the SBU in Lugansk, 10 APRIL 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Shamil Zhumatov):
Slavyansk, April 14 2014. (Photo AP Photo | Evgeniy Maloletka):
Proclamation of the Donetsk People's Republic, Donetsk, April 7 2014. (Photo AFP):
Barricades in Lugansk. (Photo AFP):
“Today an anti-terrorist operation has begun in the north of Donetsk region. It will be carried out in stages and in a balanced way. ” (Acting President A. Turchinov, April 15 2014).
Ukrainian helicopters delivered soldiers to Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, 15 on April 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Marko Djurica):
Ukrainian soldier with a grenade. Soldiers were given ammunition in a field on the outskirts of Izyum, 15 on April 2014. The Associated Press correspondent at the time of filming counted at least 14 armored personnel carriers with Ukrainian flags, one helicopter and military trucks parked 40 kilometers north of the city. (Photo by AP Photo | Sergei Grits):
White House spokesman Jay Carney confirmed that CIA director John Brennan came to Kiev and met with security officials before the Ukrainian Interior Ministry announced the start of a special operation against supporters of federalization in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian soldiers on an armored personnel carrier and Ukrainian fighter in Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, 16 April 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Marko Djurica):
Drugoi blogger:
“This morning, 16 of April, 2014, when the armored vehicles of the 25 of the Ukrainian airmobile brigade entered Kramatorsk, participating in the antiterrorist operation in the Donbass, nobody knew how this raid would end. At first, the locals blocked the way for the Ukrainian paratroopers, then armed men in camouflage and masks appeared (it seems that the sabotage group that captured the police building in the city with shooting). They quickly neutralized the Ukrainian soldiers, and the crews of six BMD vehicles, according to local militias, announced their move to the side of the separatists.
After this, the sabotage group, together with armed militias and Ukrainian paratroopers, mounted these six BMD, raised Russian flags and went to Slavyansk. This was immediately reported by correspondents who are on site. While armored vehicles with militants raced along the highway to Slavyansk, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine stated that the photos and videos of the captured armored cars were fake.
When it became clear that the Ukrainian airborne assault vehicles traveling under the Russian flag was not a fake, Sergei Sobolev, a member of the Batkivshchyna party, joined the cause. He suddenly decided to tell reporters that the raid of armored vehicles under the Russian flag was in fact a disguise and a partisan method of penetrating directly into the regions controlled by the separatists. In such a cunning way, explained Sobolev, the Ukrainian landing force infiltrated the very nest of terrorists. By this time, Twitter and Facebook were already lying under the table laughing - so much the lies of the Ministry of Defense and Deputy Sobolev was anecdotal.
Photo correspondents of news agencies handed over photographs from Slavyansk - they could see that Ukrainian BMDs were stationed in Slavyansk under the protection of fighters of the sabotage group. There were reports that the Ukrainian paratroopers to these machines do not miss. Only then did the Ministry of Defense recognize the loss of six cars and the transfer to the side of the Donbass militia of part of the paratroopers.
Today it became finally clear that the participation of army units in the counter-terrorist operation, which Kiev started in the Donbass, was ill-conceived. Paratroopers located in the neighboring Dnipropetrovsk region cannot and do not want to participate in the neutralization of armed separatists - they have no motivation to do this. ”
BMD column with Russian flag, Kramatorsk, 16 APRIL 2014. (Photo AP Photo | Evgeniy Maloletka):
During the "Direct Line with Vladimir Putin" 17 April, the president categorically rejected the participation of Russian units in the events in the east of Ukraine.
"Nonsense is all - there are no Russian units in the east of Ukraine."
Also, Vladimir Putin revealed the secret of “polite people” in the Crimea and for the first time admitted that Russian soldiers stood behind the fighters of the Crimean self-defense forces. See also “Polite people in Crimea through the eyes of Americans”.
"Their only task was not to allow what is happening in the south-east of Ukraine."
Moscow, 17 April 2014. (Photo AP Photo | Pavel Golovkin):
"Using tanks и aviation against residents of eastern Ukraine - this is another crime of the Kiev authorities " (V. Putin).
(Photo by Reuters | Stringer):
Ukrainian Air Force fighter over Luhansk, April 17 2014. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images):
Prime Minister of Ukraine Arseniy Yatsenyuk called those who seized administrative buildings in the eastern regions of the country extremists and terrorists and urged that they immediately put down weapon and vacate the premises. It is curious that when administrative buildings were seized by radicals in Kiev, the current government called these actions quite differently.
Member of self-defense Maidan, Kiev, April 15 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Valentyn Ogirenko):
“Soon there will be no terrorists in Donetsk or in other regions. They (the terrorists. - approx.) Will sit on the dock, where they belong. ” (A. Turchinov).
Ukrainian soldiers at the airbase in Kramatorsk, 15 April 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Marko Djurica):
Barricades in Donetsk. (Photo AFP):
Barricades near the SBU building in Donetsk. (Photo AFP):
Rally at the captured building of the Security Service of Ukraine in Lugansk. (Photo AFP):
The European Parliament and the United States express their full support and solidarity with the government of Ukraine, which "seeks to restore power in the occupied cities."
"The main threat today in the east of Ukraine is sabotage groups, which consist of Russian military, former Ukrainian military and criminals, and who hide behind the civilian population." (The head of the press center of the SBU Marina Ostapenko).
Meanwhile in the Rada ... Kiev, Ukraine, 8 April 2014. (Photo AP Photo | Vladimir Strumkovsky):
During the seven-hour talks in Geneva, a statement on the de-escalation of violence was agreed. Its key position is that illegal formations on both sides of the conflict must be disarmed and the illegally occupied buildings must be liberated, and the authorities in Kiev must "immediately begin a broad national dialogue."
Kharkiv Regional Administration, April 8 2014. (Photo by Sergey Bobok | AFP | Getty Images):
But the interim Ukrainian government is not going to withdraw troops from the south-east of the country, despite the agreements reached in Geneva to de-escalate the conflict.
Lugansk, April 16 2014. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images):
"The presence of troops in the south-east of Ukraine does not necessarily mean that they will be involved." (Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Andriy Deshchitsa).
The clash of Ukrainian soldiers and protesters in a field near Kramatorsk, 16 April 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Marko Djurica):
Ukrainian soldiers are talking to protesters who got in their way near Kramatorsk, 16 on April 2014. (Photo by Reuters | Marko Djurica):
US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed the hope that representatives of the pro-Russian forces operating in the east of Ukraine lay down their arms.
Slavyansk, April 13 2013. (Photo by Reuters | Gleb Garanich):
"The propaganda hype in the United States around Ukraine has no equal in stories. For more than four decades in journalism, I have not yet observed a more openly biased and misleading approach from the leading US media. ” (Robert Parris, Editor-in-Chief, Consortium News Network).
Slavyansk, Ukraine, April 14 2014. (Photo AP Photo | Evgeniy Maloletka):
According to RIA News, the State Border Service of Ukraine announced a temporary ban on entry into the country by all means of transport for male citizens of the Russian Federation at the age from 16 to 60 years.
Slavyansk. (Photo by Reuters):
Kind photo. Brothers Slavs. Ukrainian soldier and protester in a field near Kramatorsk, 16 APRIL 2014. (Photo by AP Photo / Manu Brabo).
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