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Crimea crisis: 'Explosions and gunfire' heard at Ukraine's Belbek airbase Crimea crisis: 'Explosions and gunfire' heard at Ukraine's Belbek airbase
(about 4 hours later)
Explosions and gunfire have reportedly been heard at a besieged military airbase in Crimea, hours after Russian troops gave Ukrainian forces an ultimatum to leave. Russian armour smashed into the base of Ukrainian troops on Saturday in the first serious military action between the two countries in the confrontation over Crimea.
The base in Belbek had been surrounded earlier on Saturday and issued with a demand by the Russians to surrender. Machine guns and stun grenades were used in the assault by Russian soldiers as they ended the siege of Belbek military airport in a brutal show of power. The commander of the base, Colonel Yuli Manchur, who had led his men in defying repeated demands for surrender, was arrested and taken away.
A live camera showed troops in armoured vehicles crashing through defences and soldiers storming the compound. I saw the attack, which came at 4.48pm when three armoured personnel carriers (APCs) punched a hole through the perimeter wall of the base, followed by soldiers in balaclavas streaming in.
The feed later showed a man who appeared to be a Russian soldier climbing up and moving the camera before the picture disappeared. There were bursts of automatic fire and loud explosions as the troops surged through. The Ukrainians had locked away their weapons and stood unarmed as the Russians, among them Spetznaz special forces in black, began to surround them.
It is not known whether the reported shots were exchanged or if troops were firing into the air but witnesses told Sky News ambulances arrived at the scene. At least one man was thought to be injured. A little later, the main gate of the base had also been punctured by APCs, cutting off any means for those inside to get away. There were several casualties among the Ukrainians, at least one believed to have been hit by a Russian vehicle.
The Ukrainian commander of the base, Yuliy Mamchur, called his men together and they sang the Ukrainian national anthem before standing at ease. The Ukrainians lined up. They faced Russian troops eight feet away, with ballistic shields and guns aimed at them. Just beyond, an APC pointed its barrel at the defenders. The two sides shouted at each other with insults soon flying.
He said they were going to turn over their weapons. Surrender: Armed troops storm the Belbek base yesterday One Russian officer, apparently trying to calm the situation, shouted: “It’s OK, no more shooting, you’re safe.” The ripostes ran: “You are making us safe by attacking us?! We are here without guns, why are you hiding behind guns and your masks?”
Before the assault, deputy commander of the base, Oleg Podovalov, said: "The Russian troops at our aerodrome gave us an hour to surrender or they will start storming. While the Russian troops carried out their assault, gangs of the “Self Defence Force”, the paramilitary raised by the separatist Crimean government, had gathered outside. The Ukrainian soldiers began to get telephone calls from their families saying that their apartments, just outside the perimeter wire, were being broken into. One soldier, Corporal Aleksei Timorenko, turned to me and said: “See how brave they are! They let the Russians do their fighting for them, and rob women and children.”
“We are going nowhere, let's see what this storming is." Ukrainian troops await the Russians As more and more Russians came in, Col Manchur called his men to attention and led them in singing the national anthem. The Russians, in combat stations, watched in silence as the verses were roared out, followed by full-throated cries of “Glory to Ukraine, Glory to our Heroes”. Col Manchur then told his men: “You have done all that honour demands. You should be proud of yourselves, I am proud of you.” He had, he said, been summoned to a meeting with senior officers and he would, if he could, come back and tell them what had been agreed.
The base, near Sevastopol, was still flying the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag on Saturday morning and was one of the few military facilities in the region still controlled by the country after Crimea was annexed by Russian forces. The stance of the Belbek commander over the three weeks in which he had resisted demands to surrender, had made him a hate figure among Russian nationalist separatists. His wife, Larissa, had described earlier in the day how she had seen posters in Sevastopol demanding that her husband be executed for his supposed treachery.
Its fall marks a serious loss for the Ukrainian military, which had been battling to keep control of the peninsula. Asked whether he would be safe, Col Manchur responded: “I don’t know, we will see.”
“We have sworn an oath to the state of Ukraine and we must abide by that and bear the continuous pressure which has been put on us. We have to be constantly ready for attack,” he added. Afterwards, the Russian troops took the media out through the hole created by their armour; photographers and camera operators had memory cards taken away from them, although some managed to smuggle them out. One Russian soldier, his face covered by a bandana, said in broken English: “I am sorry, but I am doing my job, you are doing yours. We are soldiers, it’s the politicians. Ukraine, Russia ... friends.”
“Our men are not combat troops, we specialise in aviation. The Russians are here with infantry, armour, spetznatz [special forces]." A couple are led away by pro-Russian Self Defence Forces As we left, with the light fading, the Ukrainian troops were once again lined up, this time at the instructions of the Russians. Every journalist leaving shook the colonel’s hand, a few had seen his obstinate refusal to give up against overwhelming odds.
Many pilots and military staff have already left Belbek, walking out on Friday carrying their belongings in bags and plastic sacks. Major Vladislav Korgic, a Ukrainian fighter pilot, spoke of the anxiety the men felt for their families. He had spoken to me before about how his seven-year-old daughter would have to be moved from the local school because of his presence in the base, and how his wife had faced abuse from Russian nationalists.
Ukrainian pilots carry their belongings as they leave the Belbek air force base not far from the city of Sevastopol, in Crimea, on March 21 The Russian takeover of the Black Sea peninsula has been largely bloodless, though one Ukrainian serviceman was killed and two others wounded in a shooting in Simferopol earlier this week. “Of course, we are very, very concerned. I have just spoken to my wife, she is frightened for me,” he said. “I am just thinking about her and my daughter. This is a very, very bad situation for everyone, I don’t know how it’s going to end.”
Ukraine's Defence Ministry said on Friday Crimea's bases were still formally under Ukrainian control, but most are now occupied by Russian troops and fly Russia's tricolour flag. A member of the Pro-Russian Self Defence Forces raises the Russian flag as the base is stormed A video camera had been installed at the main gate of the base, accessible on the internet. Members of the Self Defence Force tried to shoot it down, before wrenching it off to loud cheers of “Russia, Russia!”. Any outside scrutiny of what was going to happen to the base in the falling darkness was gone.
Several hundred pro-Russian protesters attacked a base at Novofedorivka, which is now under almost complete control of Russian forces on Saturday, the BBC reported. The scenes were in stark contrast to those earlier in the day when, under a sky of azure blue, with apple blossom drifting in the air, two young officers, lieutenants Galina Vladimirova Volosyanick and Ivan Ivanovich Benera, got married. Local champagne and lemonade, figs and nuts, chocolates and cakes, had been laid out on a long trestle table covered with a bright golden plastic cover. Toasts were drunk; troops clapped and whistled as the bride and groom kissed each other.
Elsewhere, more than 5,000 pro-Russia residents of a major city in Ukraine's east demonstrated in favour of holding a referendum on whether to seek to split off and become part of Russia. With Crimea now effectively under the control of Russian forces, concern is rising that regions in eastern Ukraine will push for a similar move. Col Manchur, as the commanding officer, had presided over the ceremony. He wished them happiness and strength in the uncertain times that lay ahead.
Moscow formally sealed Crimea's annexation on Friday, less than a week after a referendum that overwhelmingly voted to join Russia. International observers have cast doubt on the legitimacy of the result.
Additional reporting by Reuters and Associated Press