Ukrainian update - 04/14/3014

Excellent statement of Russia's rep at the UNSC (dubbed in English)

The situation on the ground is very confused, there are a lot of rumors and few verifiable facts. Still, a few things are becoming obvious:

1) So far the offensive of the neo-Fascists is lame, at best. So far, no determined and sustained attack has occurred. There was an exchange of gunfire with casualties and at least one fatality reported in Slaviansk, but that occurred on the outskirts of the city and the attacking forces withdrew.

2) The quality and determination of the anti-Fascist resistance has dramatically increased over the past 24 hours. Many more cities have seen uprisings, including cities which in the past had been completely quiet. From the video footage form the region, the quality of the barricades has also dramatically increased and there are now armed men protecting them.

3) The resistance appears to be much better coordinated and volunteer units are being formed to reinforce the cities under attack (such as Slaviansk).

4) The so-called "anti-terrorist operation" announced by the freaks in Kiev appears to be executed primarily by SBU forces. There are, so far, no signs of either police or military participation in it.

It is too early to call this one and we need to wait for at least 24 hours before we can make some conclusion. But my very preliminary impression is that if things continue down this path the east and south of the Ukraine will simply secede from Kiev and the freaks in power there. What is becoming obvious is that with every passing day the chances of somehow keeping the Ukraine as a unitary state are becoming smaller and smaller. I cannot say that it would break my heart to see this obscene creation finally collapse in an orgy of incompetence and hateful rhetoric, but I also believe the breakup of the Ukraine will create a lot of headaches for Russia and that that these headaches will be very hard to deal with in the midst of what I can only call "Cold War II". I still think that a federal unitary Ukraine is the better option, but I am beginning to seriously doubt that this is still possible.

Lastly, as a side bar: the Regnum news agency reports that Alexander Lukashenko has made some really insane statements over the Ukraine including that he is opposed to federalization and that he considers Turchinov to be an honest man how can be trusted. Not that he makes much of a difference, but I wonder if he is trying to make friendly with the US and EU again or if he basically has gone crazy.

Let's see what the next 24 hours bring. The situation should become clearer by Monday evening.

Stay tuned,

The Saker

http://vineyardsaker.blogspot.ru/2014/04/ukraine-mini-sitrep-april-13-1240-est.html

WRAPUP: Special Forces, Right Sector Besiege Rebellious Slaviansk

RIANovosti,

14 April, 2014

KIEV, April 13 (RIA Novosti) – Special forces loyal to government and armed men from the radical Right Sector movement launched an operation Sunday to suppress pro-federalization protesters in the east Ukrainian town of Slaviansk.

At least three people, including a pro-federalization supporter, were killed in clashes in the town, some 150 kilometers from the border with Russia, while two other activists were injured, activists said.

Pro-federalization activists seized a local administration building, a district police department and a security service office on Saturday.

The leader of the Right Sector movement, Dmytro Yarosh, called on his supporters Saturday to mobilize amid the recent events in eastern Ukraine, where local residents rally in support of federalization.

Ukraine’s Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page early on Sunday an operation was underway in the city involving “all the country's law enforcement agencies.”

SPECIAL FORCES AND RADICALS

A source with Ukraine’s special forces told RIA Novosti Sunday on condition of anonymity that the restive city of Slaviansk in eastern Ukraine was being stormed by all special forces units from the country’s pro-regime west.

“Every single unit from western Ukraine is now storming Slaviansk,” the source said.

Armed men from the radical Right Sector movement arrived in Slaviansk to participate in the special operation against pro-federalization protesters, a coordinator of the international liberation movement, Vladimir Karasev, said.

“Reports from Slaviansk say that some 150 people dressed in black uniform have arrived at the airfield in the town. According to all indications, they are from the Right Sector,” said Karasev, of the Russian Sector-Ukraine movement initiated by Ukrainians who have left their country fearing violence from the Kiev regime.

Ukraine’s Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page on Sunday an operation had started in the city involving “all the country's law enforcement agencies” to suppress protesters.

Shots were being heard in the area and helicopters were patrolling the airspace over the town, a RIA Novosti correspondent said.

Regime forces have moved in on federalism protest camps in two more towns in Ukraine’s eastern region, Ilovaisk and Khartsyzsk. Pro-federalization protesters seized government buildings in the towns of Krasny Liman, Kramatorsk, Mariupol and Yenakiyevo.

FIRST CASUALTIES

The health department of the Donetsk regional administration said one person was killed and nine others were injured on Sunday in Slaviansk. Five people received gunshot wounds, while four others were injured on a highway near Artyomovsk.

Ukraine’s Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the operation launched by the country’s security forces against protesters in Slaviansk had led to the deaths and injuries on "both sides."

Avakov said on his Facebook page one officer of the Security Service (SBU) was killed and five others, including the head of the SBU anti-terrorist center, were injured in the operation. He also said there were victims among the pro-federalization protesters, without giving further details.

An activist of the protest movement, Nikolai Solntsev, said three people were killed in Slaviansk on Sunday as a result of the operation.

“A total of three people have been killed: two from the so-called Right Sector and one on our side,” he said.

THE SIEGE OF SLAVIANSK

The town of Slaviansk is currently under control of the pro-federalization protesters. A RIA Novosti correspondent said vehicles carrying the activists are traveling around the town. Barricades have been set up around the district police department.

Ways to the October Revolution Square, where the district police department is located, have been partly blocked by the protesters. Some 1,000 local residents have gathered on the square. “We have come here to protect our men from attacks,” one of the participants told RIA Novosti.

FIGHT AGAINST OWN PEOPLE

The so-called “anti-terror” operation unfolding in Ukraine’s eastern town of Slaviansk is a war that the Kiev government has unleashed against its own people and a crime against humanity, said Igor Korotchenko, editor-in-chief of the National Defense magazine.

“The events we are witnessing in Slaviansk indicate that the Kiev regime is waging a war against its own people… A counter-terror operation can only target terrorists, while in Slaviansk local residents have risen to demand the right for the self-identification of the land they live in. They are fighting Slaviansk civilians with the help of special forces, armed vehicles and helicopters,” Korotchenko told RIA Novosti.

The pundit accused Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) chief Valentin Nalivaichenko and Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov of committing “crimes against humanity,” which should be classified as war crimes under international law.

Ukrainian presidential candidate Oleh Tsarev said Ukrainian authorities have crossed the line and are to blame for the bloodshed in Slaviansk.

“People have been taking to the streets for months, announcing their demands, but authorities refuse to hold talks with them. Negotiations were carried out only through law enforcement, arrests, intimidation, blackmail and today they used force,” Tsarev said.

OSCE monitors visit Slavyansk, expected to submit report

RT,

14 April, 2014

OSCE monitors have visited the besieged city of Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine, where Kiev announced an “anti-terrorist operation” against pro-federalization protesters, “to collect information” as the situation is feared to turn violent.

“Representatives of a special monitoring mission of international observers, which operate in Donetsk, visited Slavyansk to collect information,” OSCE Project Coordinator in Ukraine Andrey Dziubenko has told RIA Novosti news agency.

International experts came from Donetsk to Slavyansk for a short visit. They left the city few hours after arriving.

Upon arrival their car was surrounded by protesters, who were shouting that they want to show European monitors what is really happening in Slavyansk and blamed European media for reporting an inaccurate picture. They first offered to take them behind the barricades, but then negotiated and refused to do so, local news website slavgorod.com.ua reported.

The mission that consists of civilian monitors will submit a report on their findings to the OSCE headquarters Vienna.

“Every day all groups of the monitoring mission send reports on the situation in the regions they work to OSCE. They send data on all regions. It will also cover the information about Slavyansk,” Dziubenko said.

On Sunday, gunfire broke out in Slavyansk with casualties being reported on both sides. One man has been confirmed dead near the hospital. His identity has not been made public. Unconfirmed reports in Ukrainian media speculated that the man could be a journalist. Two protesters were also said to have been injured. New authorities in Kiev also said one security officer was killed in the siege.

A local man also told RT that Right Sector members, as he assumes, were shooting at him and other people as they were heading to Slavyansk to deliver humanitarian aid.

“We [two cars] were heading from Donetsk to Slavyansk to deliver humanitarian aid: food, medicine, warm clothes. On the way a pick-up truck was going on us. They started shooting. One [of our cars] took to the left. Another car turned around to go back. Three people were injured. One seriously,” Sergey Karpachev has said.

Three teams of OSCE monitors, involving 103 people from 39 participating States, have been working in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv since the end of March. Their deployment for an initial period of six months was approved on March, 21.

While the mission’s mandate covers the whole territory of Ukraine, monitors have initially been deployed to Kherson, Odessa, Lvov, Kharkov, Donetsk, Dnepropetrovsk, Lugansk and Kiev.

Moscow slams Kiev’s military op order as ‘criminal’, calls for UNSC meeting

RT,

14 April, 2014

Russia has called on the UNSC and OSCE to urgently consider the crisis in Ukraine, saying that the announcement made by the Kiev authorities on Sunday to mobilize military forces to put down protests in the south-east of the country is a ‘criminal order.’

Events in south-eastern Ukraine have taken a very dangerous turn, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

“The Kiev authorities, who self-proclaimed themselves as a result of a coup, have embarked on the violent military suppression of the protests,” the ministry said adding that the rallies, which have gripped the Donbas region were prompted by Kiev’s disregard of the legitimate interests the people.

Moscow slammed Sunday’s order, issued by the coup-imposed acting President Aleksandr Turchinov approving a full-scale security operation in the country’s eastern regions, as “criminal”.

“Blood has already been spilled as the result of such actions in the South East.”

The ministry’s statement elaborated that Russia strongly condemns attempts to use brutal force against protesters and activists by involving militants from the far-right Right Sector group or other illegal armed forces.

The West should bring its allies in Ukraine's government under control, Moscow said stressing “it depends on the West now to stop the civil war in Ukraine”.

“We demand the Maidan henchmen, who overthrew the legitimate president, to immediately stop the war against their own people, to fulfill all the obligations under the Agreement of 21 February,” the Foreign Ministry said.

“The western sponsors of the Maidan government, especially those who witnessed the Agreement [of 21 February] and are backed by the US, have to curb their out of control wards, they have to make them break away from the neo-Nazis and other extremists…”

The Kiev authorities have to start a national dialogue with an equal participation of all regions to make urgent and radical constitutional reforms, the ministry said.

Russia will put an urgent discussion of the situation in eastern Ukraine on the agenda of the United Nations Security Council and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

Massive protests have gripped the south-eastern territory of Ukraine with activists seizing government buildings in Donetsk, Lugansk, Slavyansk, Mariupol, Kramatorsk and the towns of Druzhkovka, Krasny Liman, Khartsyzk and Ilovaisk. Residents of other cities have been rallying for the federalization of Ukraine.

On Sunday the Kiev government launched a crackdown operation in Slavyansk. Following the event, Ukraine’s Security Council has approved a full-scale security operation in the country’s eastern regions. The coup-imposed President Aleksandr Turchinov set a deadline until Monday morning for the pro-independence supporters in eastern Ukraine to leave the government buildings they have occupied or the military will use force.