Kremlin says it is weighing response to ‘thousands’ of pleas for help from Ukraine
Kremlin says it is weighing response to ‘thousands’ of pleas for help from Ukraine
(about 7 hours later)
MOSCOW — The Kremlin is receiving “thousands” of calls for assistance from Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine, and it has not yet decided on a response, a spokesman said Saturday, as Ukrainian authorities continued to move to push back separatists who have taken over key cities in the region after Ukraine suffered its bloodiest day in nearly three months.
DONETSK, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities vowed Saturday to restore control over the roiling eastern part of their nation, slowly advancing on two key breakaway cities even as the Kremlin and its supporters in Ukraine said the violence demanded a response.
The Kremlin’s announcement came after weeks of declarations from Russian officials that if Russian-speakers in restive eastern Ukraine came under threat, they would consider intervening in a conflict that has left several cities in the hands of pro-Russian separatists. On Friday, nine people were killed when the Ukrainian army launched its first major assault on a rebel stronghold and 34 died in clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian mobs in the Black Sea port city of Odessa.
The military operations Saturday claimed at least 10 lives, medical officials said, a day after a conflagration in a trade union building killed dozens of pro-Russian activists in the port city of Odessa in the bloodiest day in Ukraine in nearly three months.
“People are calling in despair, asking for help. The overwhelming majority demand Russian help,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters Saturday. “All these calls are reported to Vladimir Putin.”
Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, declared a two-day national mourning period, as grieving residents of Odessa streamed to the burned-out building to lay flowers. Thousands of mourners took to the streets of the city, which until the previous day had been largely untouched by the kind of violence that has plagued eastern Ukraine for weeks.
The Kremlin, however, has not yet decided how to respond, Peskov said. “This element is absolutely new to us,” he said, according to the Interfax newswire service. He said that Russian authorities have lost their ability to influence pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine and that they would not be able to resolve the increasingly violent situation alone.
The violence was an ominous development in the unfolding turmoil in Ukraine, because Odessa, more than 300 miles to the west of the bulk of separatist sentiments, lies on a belt extending into Moldova that Russian President Vladimir Putin has noted was historically part of the Russian Empire.
Ukrainian authorities meanwhile continued their efforts to dislodge separatists in the east. “The active phase of the operation continued at dawn,” acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page. “We will not stop.”
Reporters in Odessa said the mourners chanted, “Odessa is a Russian city.”
Avakov said that the Ukrainian military had retaken a television tower near Kramatorsk, although his account was not immediately independently confirmed.
By day’s end, Ukrainian authorities in the east said they had encircled Slovyansk and retaken portions of Kramatorsk, including a television tower that had been seized by pro-Russian activists, although the core of the city appeared to remain in rebel hands. Separatists in Slovyansk on Saturday freed a team of international observers who had been held hostage for more than a week, after Putin sent an envoy to push for their release.
In one sign that the Kremlin may still retain sway over the actions of allies in eastern Ukraine, a group of seven international observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were released by separatists in Slovyansk on Saturday after being held hostage for more than a week. The move came after Russian President Vladimir Putin sent envoy Vladimir Lukin to the region on Thursday to push for their release. Five Ukrainian military officers held captive alongside the observers were also freed.
For every advance that the Ukrainian government made, it seemed to lose ground elsewhere. Angry pro-Russian crowds seized control of more government buildings in Donetsk, and pro-Russian forces in Luhansk, a city just 15 miles from the Russian frontier, vowed war on Kiev, declaring a curfew and seizing weapons inside a military recruitment center.
Lukin, Donetsk Gov. Serhiy Taruta and Thorbjørn Jagland, a Norwegian politician serving as the secretary general of the Council of Europe, confirmed the hostages’ release at a news conference Saturday, saying it had been secured without conditions. They said there was no sign the OSCE hostages had been tortured or mistreated.
The spate of violence prompted the Kremlin to warn that it was weighing how to respond as thousands of Russian troops massed along the border. Putin has previously said he would be prepared to intervene if the interests of compatriots in Ukraine were under threat.
“Taking hostages is in general unacceptable, and even more so when it comes to people who are working for the international community,” Jagland said.
“People are calling in despair, asking for help. The overwhelming majority demand Russian help,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov told reporters Saturday. “Thousands” of calls had come in the previous 24 hours, he said, although he offered no evidence.
Lukin said they had not focused on other hostages being held in Slovyansk, a group that includes journalists, activists and election commission officials, although Taruta said that negotiations for the release of the others were underway.
“All these calls are reported to Vladimir Putin,” he said. He blamed Kiev and its European and U.S. supporters for the violence, saying that “their arms are up to the elbows in blood.”
Lukin said he did not believe that Russian troops would invade Ukraine.
In Kiev, authorities said that they would not relent in their efforts to repel separatists in eastern Ukraine but that police officers in Odessa might be held accountable for allowing the violence there. On Friday, a pro-Ukrainian rally in the city attended by thousands of soccer fans was attacked by pro-Russian separatists, sparking hours of street battles and causing the deaths of three people. Later that evening, a pro-Ukrainian mob attacked people in a pro-Russian encampment, sending them running into a nearby building that the mob then set on fire with gasoline bombs. Many people were trapped inside.
“I am completely sure it is impossible,” he said. “I prefer that peace is reestablished near the Russian border with the help of negotiations.”
At least 46 people died in the clashes, almost all of them in the fire, authorities said Saturday.
Kerry: Release is ‘a step’
Russian envoy Vladimir Lukin, Donetsk Gov. Serhiy Taruta and Thorbjorn Jagland, a Norwegian politician serving as secretary general of the Council of Europe, confirmed the OSCE hostages’ release at a news conference Saturday, saying it had been secured without conditions. They said there was no sign that the hostages, European military observers, had been tortured or mistreated.
The OSCE hostages “had a very good attitude, and that gave them the strength to stand the situation,” said German Col. Axel Schneider, one of the detainees, the Associated Press reported. “We have been treated as good as possible.”
Secretary of State John F. Kerry welcomed the release of the OSCE personnel and condemned violence “by any side.”
Secretary of State John F. Kerry welcomed the release of the OSCE personnel and condemned violence “by any side.”
“It’s a step,” he said of the release. “But there are many other steps that need to be taken in order to be able to de-escalate the situation.”
“It’s a step,” he said of the release. “But there are many other steps that need to be taken in order to be able to de-escalate the situation.”
Kerry, speaking in Kinshasa, Congo, said he had discussed those further steps in a call Saturday to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He said he reiterated the warning of economic sanctions against Russia issued by President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week, adding that any such measures would include broad sanctions on sectors of the Russian economy. He did not elaborate.
Kerry, speaking in Kinshasa, Congo, said he had discussed those steps in a call Saturday to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. He said he reiterated the warning of economic sanctions against Russia issued by President Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel this past week, adding that any such measures would include broad sanctions on sectors of the Russian economy. He did not elaborate.
“It’s important for Russia to withdraw support for the separatists,” Kerry said. “If those supported by Russia continue to interfere with the election, regrettably there will have to be sanctions, including the possibility of — the reality of — sector sanctions.”
He said he and Lavrov also discussed the rising level of violence in eastern Ukraine.
He said he and Lavrov also discussed the rising level of violence in eastern Ukraine.
“The United States condemns the violence that has been taking place by any side,” Kerry said. “That includes the violence of anyone who lit a fire and caused the deaths of those 38 people or more in a building in Odessa.”
“The United States condemns the violence that has been taking place by any side,” Kerry said. “That includes the violence of anyone who lit a fire and caused the deaths of those 38 people or more in a building in Odessa.”
But the two officials appeared to be talking past each other.
But the two officials appeared to be talking past each other.
Lavrov told Kerry that “the punitive operation in southeastern Ukraine is putting the country into a fratricidal conflict,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the conversation. Russia’s top diplomat called on the United States “to use all its influence to force the Kiev regime protected by it, which has declared a war on its own people, to immediately halt the military action in the southeastern regions, remove the troops and release protesters.”
Lavrov told Kerry that “the punitive operation in southeastern Ukraine is putting the country into a fratricidal conflict,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement after the conversation. Russia’s top diplomat called on the United States “to use all its influence to force the Kiev regime protected by it, which has declared a war on its own people, to immediately halt the military action in the southeastern regions, remove the troops and release protesters.”
Lavrov also called for the OSCE to help de-escalate tensions and establish a “nationwide dialogue” focused on constitutional reform that Russia hopes would give more autonomy to the ethnically Russian eastern parts of the country, a measure that would also award Russia more influence over the region.
Lavrov also called for the OSCE to help de-escalate tensions and establish a “nationwide dialogue” focused on constitutional changes that Russia hopes would give more autonomy to the ethnically Russian eastern parts of Ukraine, a measure that would award Russia more influence over the region.
But he said that “chances still remain” for a dialogue, suggesting that Russia may have decided for now against military intervention. Lavrov had previously said that Russia was prepared to defend the interests of ethnic Russians in eastern Ukraine.
But, Lavrov said, “chances still remain” for a dialogue.
The Ukrainian army attacked Slovyansk in the east of the country on Friday at dawn, provoking the heaviest military fighting since a pro-Russian uprising began a month ago. The army took control of the major checkpoints outside the city but was unable to force its way into the center, and two of its helicopters were shot down.
Looting in Donetsk
The biggest loss of lives came in Odessa. A pro-Ukrainian rally attended by thousands of soccer fans before a game Friday night was attacked by pro-Russian separatists. The two sides fought running battles through the city in the afternoon, throwing stones at each other and erecting barricades. At least three people were killed.
On the ground in eastern Ukraine, Kiev’s control Saturday appeared patchy. In Donetsk, masked men, some dressed in black, others in camouflage, smashed and looted two buildings that symbolized the Ukrainian state as hundreds of civilians chanted “Odessa will not be forgiven,” as well as “Russia” and “No to fascism.”
Friday evening, a pro-Ukrainian mob attacked a camp where the pro-Russian supporters had pitched tents, forcing them to flee to a nearby government building, a witness said. The mob then threw gasoline bombs into the building. Police said 31 people were killed when they choked on smoke or jumped out of windows.
The men attacked the abandoned office of the State Security Service and the office of a metallurgical company partly owned by Taruta, the Kiev-appointed governor. They smashed windows with batons and sticks, and carried away computers, keyboards, bottles of wine and spirits — almost anything they could lay their hands on, including an office chair and several paintings. Ironically, the company is also partly owned by Russian businessmen.
Asked who had thrown the molotov cocktails, pro-Ukrainian activist Diana Berg said, “Our people — but now they are helping them to escape the building.”
Papers fluttered from broken second-floor windows, and the crowd cheered as a man flew the Russian flag from a balcony and when a masked man in black stood on the steps outside the building with the black, blue and red flag of the self-styled Donetsk People’s Republic.
It amounted to the deadliest day in the Ukrainian crisis since February, when scores of people were killed, many by snipers, in protests against then-President Viktor Yanukovych.
Earlier, thousands gathered outside the headquarters of the separatist republic to hear leader Denis Pushilin denounce the deaths in Odessa as unimaginable “on our land, on Russian land.”
Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, said Friday that the military assault on the eastern city of Slovyansk was intended to protect civilians from “mercenaries of foreign states, terrorists and criminals who are taking hostages, killing and torturing people, and threatening the territorial integrity and stability of Ukraine.”
In the crowd, one man said Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin should be taken from his grave to help fight the “Nazis,” referring to pro-Ukrainian forces. A woman pointed at a Western journalist and threatened to throttle him with her bare hands if he was an American, blaming the United States for sending mercenaries to support the Ukrainian army.
Two Ukrainian Mi-24 attack helicopters were shot down and two crew members killed, while seven soldiers were wounded in the offensive, the government said. One helicopter pilot was captured by the rebels and transferred to a hospital, medics told local news media.
Birnbaum reported from Moscow. Anna Nemtsova in Luhansk, Ukraine, Alex Ryabchyn in Donetsk, Ukraine, and Anne Gearan in Kinshasa, Congo, contributed to this report.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said a third helicopter, an Mi-8 transport reportedly carrying medics, was also hit and a service member wounded.
The rebels said three of their fighters and two civilians were killed. But Turchynov said many “criminals” were killed, wounded or taken prisoner.
A spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin called the offensive a “criminal” act and said it had “effectively destroyed the last hope for the implementation of the Geneva agreements” reached April 17 that were intended to defuse the crisis. Under the accord, signed by Ukraine, Russia, the United States and the European Union, separatists were supposed to lay down their arms and vacate government buildings they have occupied across eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine accuses Russia of financing and arming the separatists, who have vowed to hold a referendum on independence on May 11. Russia denies the charge.
In Washington, President Obama expressed strong support Friday for the Ukrainian offensive and said the United States and Europe “are united in our determination to impose costs on Russia for its actions” in destabilizing eastern Ukraine.
Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops along the border with Ukraine, and Friday’s developments raised the risks of a Russian military response. Russian officials have said they would intervene in Ukraine to protect ethnic Russians, and the Kremlin said Friday that Putin was “closely following developments.”
At the U.N. Security Council, Russia and the United States again traded accusations and insults. Using Cold War language, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Vitaly Churkin, said that if the “criminal misadventures of the Kiev clique are not stopped, . . . catastrophic consequences cannot be avoided.”
Churkin charged that “English-speaking foreigners” had been overheard in radio communications during Ukraine’s current “punitive operations” against the separatists.
The United States, France and Britain were scathing in their responses.
“A pyromaniac fireman situation is what we have here,” French U.N. Ambassador Gérard Araud said. Russia is “screaming in order to make us forget that this path was set long ago, and it’s no longer possible to go backwards.”
Vyacheslav Ponomarev, who has been appointed mayor of Slovyansk by the insurgents, urged women, children and senior citizens to remain in their homes but asked men with guns “to render all possible assistance.”
“We will defend the city. We will win,” he said in a video message posted on the Internet.
Stella Khorosheva, a rebel spokeswoman, posted on her Facebook account: “The situation is stable on the streets, but there is a high risk of full-scale action. In short, it’s war.”
The Ukrainian Security Service said its fighters were facing “highly skilled foreign military men” in Slovyansk. It said one of the helicopters was shot down with a surface-to-air missile, which it said undercut Russia’s claims that the city is under the control of civilians who bought arms in “hunting stores.”
Swedish Foreign Minister Carl Bildt agreed. “Ukrainian helicopters shot down in Slovyansk. Some elderly ladies bought some RPGs or missiles at the local grocery store, I assume,” he posted on Twitter.
The European Union said it is watching the developments with growing concern, and NATO has said it must view Russia as an adversary in light of apparent efforts to destabilize the region following its annexation of Crimea in March. But Western leaders have made it clear they have no intention of engaging Russia militarily over Ukraine.
Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the objective of Friday’s operation in Slovyansk was to free several hostages taken by the rebels, force the rebels to lay down their arms, release administrative buildings from their control and restore the normal functioning of the city administration.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said that English-speaking foreigners were seen among the Ukrainian forces mounting the assault on Slovyansk on Friday, echoing its previous charges that U.S. contractors were involved in Ukraine’s response to the unrest in the east.
“The United States and the E.U. are taking on a huge responsibility in cutting off the road to a peaceful resolution of the crisis,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Denyer reported from Donetsk, Ukraine and Nemtsova reported from Slovyansk, Ukraine. Karen DeYoung and William Branigin in Washington contributed to this report.
Denyer reported from Donetsk, Ukraine, and Nemtsova from Slovyansk, Ukraine. Anne Gearan in Kinshasa, Congo, and Karen DeYoung and William Branigin in Washington contributed to this report.
