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| Version 3 | Version 4 |
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| New Fighting Reported in Eastern Ukraine | New Fighting Reported in Eastern Ukraine |
| (about 3 hours later) | |
| LUHANSK, Ukraine — Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs said Tuesday that the central government’s security forces had begun a new phase of the campaign against separatist fighters in the city of Slovyansk, destroying rebel checkpoints and equipment and engaging in intensive firefights. | LUHANSK, Ukraine — Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs said Tuesday that the central government’s security forces had begun a new phase of the campaign against separatist fighters in the city of Slovyansk, destroying rebel checkpoints and equipment and engaging in intensive firefights. |
| The minister, Arsen Avakov, said in a Facebook posting that there had been “very intensive shooting,” in the area of Semyonovka, near Slovyansk. He said that rebels had fired at military vehicles using rocket launchers, but that the vehicles and personnel inside had survived and had managed to eliminate the checkpoints. | The minister, Arsen Avakov, said in a Facebook posting that there had been “very intensive shooting,” in the area of Semyonovka, near Slovyansk. He said that rebels had fired at military vehicles using rocket launchers, but that the vehicles and personnel inside had survived and had managed to eliminate the checkpoints. |
| “They made it,” he said of the armed personnel carriers. “Good job constructors.” | “They made it,” he said of the armed personnel carriers. “Good job constructors.” |
| Mr. Avakov added that the security forces in and around Slovyansk were warning residents in the area to remain in their homes. | Mr. Avakov added that the security forces in and around Slovyansk were warning residents in the area to remain in their homes. |
| The Interfax news agency quoted Vyacheslav Ponomarev, the leader of insurgents in Slovyansk, as saying that his men downed a Ukrainian jet and a helicopter gunship, The Associated Press reported. There was no independent confirmation of the claim. | |
| In Luhansk, separatists began a siege Tuesday of the central command for the border guards in the Luhansk region, whose sprawling border with Russia presents one of the most vexing problems for Kiev’s new government. The building had been the scene of a big battle on Monday. | |
| A spokesman for the border guard service, Oleg Slobodyan, said the complex was surrounded by separatist fighters, including Cossacks, but that the shooting had largely subsided. He said the border guards trapped inside “had high spirits,” and had even managed to raise a flag. | |
| But he also said that there was little that the central border service could do to help them without support from the Ukrainian military, which had so far not come to their rescue. Ukrainian forces were already spread thin, having been engaged in an operation in the neighboring region of Donetsk. | |
| “We are trying to morally support our people, to tell them that no one has forgotten them,” Mr. Slobodyan said. | “We are trying to morally support our people, to tell them that no one has forgotten them,” Mr. Slobodyan said. |
| A spokesman for the Ukrainian military, Vladislav Seleznyov, was not immediately available for comment. | A spokesman for the Ukrainian military, Vladislav Seleznyov, was not immediately available for comment. |
| The leader of the pro-Russian Luhansk People’s Republic, Valery Bolotov, said he had given the border guards until evening to surrender, and if they did not, “we will wipe them off the face of the earth.” | |
| A border guard inside the complex, reached by telephone, who gave his name only as Nikolai, said many of the approximately 150 guards inside wanted to go back to their families, but so far their commander was not allowing them to surrender. | |
| “I feel sorry for them,” said Lyudmila Ivanovna, a worker from a veterans union who was trying to negotiate their release. “We’re trying to talk to the commander but he’s not agreeing to speak.” | |
| On Tuesday afternoon, the weedy area around the mustard-colored complex was windy and deserted, with chunks of plaster missing and bullet holes riddling the walls. Passersby were touching bullet holes in the wall of one of the apartment buildings. |