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Ukraine Presses Rebels as Events Spiral in East Ukraine Presses Pro-Russia Militants After Fighting Spreads to Odessa
(about 3 hours later)
KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s security forces pressed their assault on pro-Russia militants in and around the separatist stronghold of Slovyansk on Saturday, even as the rebels freed seven European military observers and the Kremlin cited the deaths of dozens of people in Odessa as proof that Ukraine could no longer protect its citizens. KIEV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s security forces pressed their assault to try to reclaim the pro-Russian stronghold of Slovyansk on Saturday, even as the rebels freed seven European military observers and the Kremlin cited the deaths of dozens of people in Odessa as proof that Ukraine could no longer protect its citizens.
The Ukrainian troops built on recent advances into Slovyansk’s outskirts, entering the nearby town of Kramatorsk, where the Interior Ministry said they had recaptured the main state security building. The Ukrainian troops built on recent advances into Slovyansk’s outskirts, entering the neighboring town of Kramatorsk. The Interior Ministry said the forces had recaptured the main state security building and a television tower for the town, allowing the resumption of Ukrainian television broadcasts that had been switched to Russian stations several weeks ago.
But even with that reported success after earlier military setbacks, the violence in Odessa on Friday was a measure of how far events have spiraled out of the authorities’ control, and added to the pressure from Russia. Odessa’s population includes many Russian speakers sympathetic to Moscow, but it is far west of the restive eastern region where most fighting has occurred. But even with the advance, the violence on Friday in Odessa, far west of the country’s restive eastern region, was a measure of how far events have spiraled out of the authorities’ control. It also added to pressure from Russia, which has long said it could intervene in Ukraine if it believed ethnic Russians were in danger. Odessa’s population includes many Russian speakers sympathetic to Moscow.
An official in Odessa said 46 people had died in street battles between pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine groups, and in a fire in a building held by pro-Russia militants. If confirmed, the death toll would be the highest since the struggles in February between pro-Europe demonstrators and the pro-Russia government of ousted President Viktor F. Yanukovych. An official in the city said 46 people had died in street battles between pro-Russia and pro-Ukraine groups, but many of the dead were pro-Russia militants who had retreated into a trade union building that was then set on fire. If confirmed, the death toll would be the highest since the struggles in February between pro-Europe demonstrators and the pro-Russia Ukrainian government of ousted President Viktor F. Yanukovych.
Until Friday, Odessa, a Black Sea port in southern Ukraine, had been mostly calm. But as the battles raged, the police were apparently unable or unwilling to restore order. Until Friday, Odessa, a Black Sea port in southern Ukraine, had been mostly calm. But as the street battles raged, the police were apparently unable or unwilling to restore order.
Near the end of the day, the pro-Russia militants had retreated to the local House of Trade Unions, which was then set on fire as the two sides continued to battle. Amid the lobbing of firebombs, it was impossible to know who had started the blaze. Most victims were apparently overcome by smoke or burned, but eight were said to have died leaping from the flames. The Odessa authorities said 214 people had been injured in the various events, including 88 who were hospitalized. Three days of mourning were declared. Amid the chaos, which included the lobbing of firebombs, it was not immediately clear who had started the blaze, though a report from a pro-Ukraine national newspaper, Ukrainska Pravda, suggested that Ukrainian activists had done nothing to help those inside. “As the building burned, the Ukrainian activists continued to scream mottos about Putin and sing the Ukrainian national anthem,” the article said, referring to Russian President Vladimir V. Putin.
The official death toll came from the regional prosecutor, Ihor Borshulyak, who spoke to reporters on Saturday, the Interfax news agency said. He also announced that 144 people had been arrested and that one of several inquiries would look into whether the police had failed to execute their duties. The local police chief, appointed in March with a view to ending corruption and mismanagement, appealed for calm in Odessa, a city of some one million people, but was fired shortly afterward by Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. Ukraine’s foreign ministry, in a statement, blamed provocateurs “paid generously by the Russian special services,” while Russia’s foreign ministry blamed a Ukrainian nationalist group, Right Sector.
In Moscow, a Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry S. Peskov, said Russia would no longer be able to tell the hundreds of ethnic Russians who he said were calling for help not to take up arms. “The authorities in Kiev are not only directly responsible, they are direct accomplices in these criminal actions,” Mr. Peskov said. “Their hands are full of blood.” The Odessa authorities said 214 people were injured in the violence on Friday, including 88 who were hospitalized. Three days of mourning were declared.
He added that Russia had “lost its influence on those people, because it would be impossible to persuade them to disarm amid a direct threat to their lives.” Ihor Borshulyak, the city’s regional prosecutor, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying that 144 people had been arrested and that one of several inquiries would look into whether the police had failed to execute their duties. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov fired the local police chief on Saturday.
Mr. Peskov also said Russia regretted that the United States and the European Union had endorsed Ukraine’s military operations in the southeast, saying they, too, bore responsibility for fueling violence. Moscow used the violence in Odessa to again denounce the idea of holding nationwide elections in Ukraine on May 25 to select a new president and vote on constitutional reforms. A Kremlin spokesman, Dmitry S. Peskov, said any discussion of proceeding with the vote would be “absurd.” The United States and Germany have threatened new sanctions against Russia if it disrupts the elections.
Russian state-run television maintained a belligerent tone on Saturday when reporting about events in Ukraine, with leading politicians and commentators saying repeatedly that war crimes were being committed and that victims there needed protection. The Rossiya 24 satellite channel turned its onscreen titles to black and gray in mourning for the people in Odessa. Mr. Peskov said Russia would no longer be able to tell the hundreds of ethnic Russians who he said were calling for help not to take up arms when there was “a direct threat to their lives.”
“The authorities in Kiev are not only directly responsible, they are direct accomplices in these criminal actions,” Mr. Peskov said. “Their hands are full of blood.”
Mr. Peskov also said the United States and the European Union bore some responsibility for the continuing violence because they had endorsed Ukraine’s military operations against pro-Russia activists.
Russian state-run television maintained a belligerent tone on Saturday when reporting about events in Ukraine, with leading politicians and commentators saying repeatedly that war crimes were being committed and that victims there needed protection. The Rossiya 24 satellite channel turned its on-screen titles to black and gray in mourning for the people in Odessa.
But despite that steady public drumbeat and the vigor of Mr. Peskov’s statements, analysts said the Kremlin did not seem poised to intervene militarily at this point.But despite that steady public drumbeat and the vigor of Mr. Peskov’s statements, analysts said the Kremlin did not seem poised to intervene militarily at this point.
A day after two Ukrainian helicopters were reported to have been shot down as the government moved to retake positions in and around Slovyansk, the Ukrainian authorities said the operation was continuing in Kramatorsk. “We are not stopping,” Mr. Avakov said Saturday on his Facebook page. Dmitri V. Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, said he believed that Mr. Putin was extremely aware of the high costs in terms of Russian lives and treasure if he were to fight a full-scale war to take control of economically troubled Ukraine.
In the one diplomatic success of the day, the European military observers — four Germans, a Czech, a Dane and a Pole — were freed. That followed the arrival of a Kremlin envoy, Vladimir P. Lukin, in Donetsk, the regional center south of Slovyansk. “He is much more likely to wait rather than jump the gun to intervene,” Mr. Trenin said. In pressuring Ukraine to put off the presidential election, he said, the Kremlin might be banking on the West’s eventually growing weary of the Ukrainian problem, allowing Moscow to use its influence to shape a government more to its liking.
Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary general of the Council of Europe, said in a phone interview from the checkpoint outside Slovyansk where he met the German-led team that Mr. Lukin, a friend, had secured the observers’ release. Mr. Jagland said they and Mr. Lukin had encountered fighting en route to the checkpoint, delaying their arrival. In the urban combat in Kramatorsk, published photographs showed that several city buses had been burned. Vladimir Keruchenko, a pro-Russia militant at a checkpoint outside the town, said shots had been fired from the heavy cannons on the Ukrainian Army’s armored vehicles, though that could not be confirmed.
The team had been detained April 25 while working, at the Ukrainian military’s invitation, to assess security conditions in eastern Ukraine. The mission was part of a process approved by the 57-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to which Russia, Ukraine and the United States belong. One observer, a Swede with diabetes, was released last weekend, but the others were paraded before reporters in a spectacle that the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called “disgusting.” “We are not stopping,” Mr. Avakov, the Ukrainian interior minister, said Saturday on his Facebook page.
Germany is seen as a central player in trying to resolve the crisis, and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, who values relations with Germany, had spoken of the need to release the observers. The degree to which the Kremlin holds sway over the militants in Slovyansk is not clear, but it clearly took Russian intervention to get the observers freed. In a diplomatic success, pro-Russia militants freed the European military observers who had been held — four Germans, a Czech, a Dane and a Pole. Their release followed the arrival of a Kremlin envoy, Vladimir P. Lukin, in Donetsk, the regional center south of Slovyansk.
A spokeswoman for the self-declared authorities in Slovyansk would not comment on whether the militants still saw the observers as NATO spies, on what led to the resolution or on whether prisoners held by Ukraine’s government had been freed in exchange. Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary general of the Council of Europe, said in a phone interview from the checkpoint outside Slovyansk where he met the team that Mr. Lukin, a friend, had secured the observers’ release.
As the reports from Ukraine dominated the news in Russia, Dmitri V. Trenin, director of the Carnegie Moscow Center, said he believed that Mr. Putin was extremely aware of the high costs in terms of Russian lives and treasure if he were to fight a full-scale war to take control of economically troubled Ukraine. The German-led team had been detained April 25 while working, at the Ukrainian military’s invitation, to assess security conditions in eastern Ukraine. The mission was part of a process approved by the 57-nation Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, to which Russia, Ukraine and the United States belong. One observer, a Swede with diabetes, was released last weekend, but the others were paraded before reporters in a spectacle that the German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, called “disgusting.”
“He is much more likely to wait rather than jump the gun to intervene,” Mr. Trenin said. In pressuring Ukraine to put off the presidential election scheduled for May 25, as Mr. Peskov did on Saturday, the Kremlin may be aiming to wait for the West to grow weary of the Ukrainian problem. Then, in a few months, Russia could use its influence to shape a government more to its liking, he said. Germany is seen as a central player in trying to resolve the crisis, and Mr. Putin, who values relations with Germany, had spoken of the need to release the observers.
But there is always a chance that the violence will reach a point where Russia feels it must do something. “It can all easily escalate without any decisions from the Russian government,” said Sergei A. Karaganov, dean of the School of International Economics and Foreign Affairs in Moscow and an occasional Kremlin consultant. A spokeswoman for the self-declared pro-Russian authorities in Slovyansk would not comment on whether the militants still saw the observers as NATO spies, on what led to the resolution or on whether prisoners held by Ukraine’s government had been freed in exchange.
There were indications on Saturday that the United States and Russia might be willing to try again to pursue a diplomatic solution to the crisis. Last month the two countries, with Ukraine and the European Union, reached an accord to try to defuse the crisis.
Secretary of State John Kerry, who was on a trip to Africa, called the Russian foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, to discuss the escalating violence, the Foreign Ministry said. Despite earlier Russian declarations that the government offensive in the east and the violence in Odessa had effectively torpedoed the Geneva accord, Mr. Lavrov suggested on Saturday that it could still be resurrected.
He also said the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe should act as a mediator to help establish a national dialogue about constitutional reform in Ukraine. Russia appeared to be hoping that the group would become a vehicle to push the Ukrainian government to implement steps the Kremlin has wanted from the beginning — in particular, extensive regional autonomy that would allow it to exert influence, especially in areas that are heavily ethnic Russian.
Mr. Kerry said in Africa that he and Mr. Lavrov had discussed “how to find a way forward” and had agreed to exchange ideas.
Mr. Kerry’s comments on Saturday reflected a shift in tone. In an appearance at the Atlantic Council in Washington on Tuesday, he had complained that Russia had taken “not one single step” to carry out the Geneva agreement.