09:01
27.4.2014
09:11
27.4.2014
09:30
27.4.2014
Separatist leader Ponomaryov in Slovyansk calls abducted members of the OSCE military observers "prisoners of war" but insists they "are not our hostages, they are our guests," AFP reports:
Pro-Russian Ukrainian rebels holding an international team of observers from the OSCE said Sunday they are "prisoners of war".
Self-declared mayor of Slavyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov told a small group of reporters, including AFP, that the team was being kept in the town hall, but did not permit media access to them.
He added that the group's driver, who had been seized with them on Friday, had been released, bringing the number of detainees in the OSCE military verification mission to 12: eight Europeans and four accompanying members of the Ukrainian army.
"They are prisoners of war," Ponomaryov repeated several times.
"In our town, where a war situation is going on, any military personnel who don't have our permission are considered prisoners of war."
He repeated that they would only be freed in exchange for Kiev's authorities releasing arrested pro-Moscow militants.
And he stressed that the rebels did not consider the detained men part of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitoring mission deployed in Ukraine.
The OSCE headquarters in Vienna has said the military verification mission is a separate unit headed by German command.
"I can't say that they aren't taking sides in events here, because the United States and NATO are delivering weapons and sending (military) trainers" to Kiev, and foreign private security firms were active, Ponomaryov claimed....
Ponomaryov, who was wearing a pistol in a holster and escorted by two armed bodyguards, did not say why the seized group were being kept in the town hall instead of the SBU secret services building the rebels are also occupying in the town.
He did claim, though, that the OSCE observers "are not our hostages -- they are our guests".
Self-declared mayor of Slavyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov told a small group of reporters, including AFP, that the team was being kept in the town hall, but did not permit media access to them.
He added that the group's driver, who had been seized with them on Friday, had been released, bringing the number of detainees in the OSCE military verification mission to 12: eight Europeans and four accompanying members of the Ukrainian army.
"They are prisoners of war," Ponomaryov repeated several times.
"In our town, where a war situation is going on, any military personnel who don't have our permission are considered prisoners of war."
He repeated that they would only be freed in exchange for Kiev's authorities releasing arrested pro-Moscow militants.
And he stressed that the rebels did not consider the detained men part of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitoring mission deployed in Ukraine.
The OSCE headquarters in Vienna has said the military verification mission is a separate unit headed by German command.
"I can't say that they aren't taking sides in events here, because the United States and NATO are delivering weapons and sending (military) trainers" to Kiev, and foreign private security firms were active, Ponomaryov claimed....
Ponomaryov, who was wearing a pistol in a holster and escorted by two armed bodyguards, did not say why the seized group were being kept in the town hall instead of the SBU secret services building the rebels are also occupying in the town.
He did claim, though, that the OSCE observers "are not our hostages -- they are our guests".
09:45
27.4.2014
Various reports are citing Facebook posts by Dmitriy Tymchuk, the director of the recently founded Center for Military and Political Research in Kyiv whose translated blog posts can be found in the "Kyiv Post."
The Ukrainian news agency UNIAN cites him as writing that the Ukrainian State Security Service carried out an operation on the night of April 26-27 outside Slovyansk in which they dismantled a separatist checkpoint and captured one "extemist" -- identified as a Donetsk Cossack.
UNIAN, again citing Tymchuk, reported that 1,000 separatists assembled near an arms depot in the eastern city of Artemivsk, but did not storm the facility.
The Kyiv-based UNN Online (Ukrainian National News), cites Tymchuk as writing that a group of 30 armed "extremists" stormed a mountain rescue unit near Stakhanov, in Luhansk Oblast, and turned on the unit's siren.
The Ukrainian news agency UNIAN cites him as writing that the Ukrainian State Security Service carried out an operation on the night of April 26-27 outside Slovyansk in which they dismantled a separatist checkpoint and captured one "extemist" -- identified as a Donetsk Cossack.
UNIAN, again citing Tymchuk, reported that 1,000 separatists assembled near an arms depot in the eastern city of Artemivsk, but did not storm the facility.
The Kyiv-based UNN Online (Ukrainian National News), cites Tymchuk as writing that a group of 30 armed "extremists" stormed a mountain rescue unit near Stakhanov, in Luhansk Oblast, and turned on the unit's siren.
09:50
27.4.2014
Some of President Obama's comments to reporters in Putrajaya, after he met with Malaysia's prime minister, via Reuters:
"If we, for example, say we're not going to allow certain arms sales to Russia -- just take an example -- but every European defense contractor backfills what we do, then it's not very effective. It's going to be more effective if everybody sign on and everybody is committed."
"Collectively, us and the Europeans have said that so long as Russia continues down the path of provocation rather than trying to resolve this issue peacefully and de-escalating, there are going to be consequences. And those consequences will continue to grow."
"The notion that for us to go forward with sectorial sanctions on our own without the Europeans would be the most effective deterrent to [Russian President] Mr. [Vladimir] Putin I think is factually wrong. We're going to be in a stronger position to deter Mr. Putin when he sees that the world is unified, and the United States and Europe is unified, rather than this is just the U.S."
"Collectively, us and the Europeans have said that so long as Russia continues down the path of provocation rather than trying to resolve this issue peacefully and de-escalating, there are going to be consequences. And those consequences will continue to grow."
"The notion that for us to go forward with sectorial sanctions on our own without the Europeans would be the most effective deterrent to [Russian President] Mr. [Vladimir] Putin I think is factually wrong. We're going to be in a stronger position to deter Mr. Putin when he sees that the world is unified, and the United States and Europe is unified, rather than this is just the U.S."
09:51
27.4.2014
Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the head of the pro-Russian separatist rebels in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk, says he wants to use the eight OSCE military observers he is currently holding hostage -- a Dane, a Pole, a Czech, a Swede, and four Germans -- to barter for the release of pro-Russian forces being held by Ukraine.
Vasyl Krutov, the head of the antiterrorist center of Ukraine's federal security service, says law-enforcement bodies are currently holding close to 30 Russian "diversanty," or saboteurs. Ukrainian news agencies cited Krutov at an April 25th briefing as saying that the detainees include Russian officers with specific goals and missions.
Vasyl Krutov, the head of the antiterrorist center of Ukraine's federal security service, says law-enforcement bodies are currently holding close to 30 Russian "diversanty," or saboteurs. Ukrainian news agencies cited Krutov at an April 25th briefing as saying that the detainees include Russian officers with specific goals and missions.
09:55
27.4.2014
10:08
27.4.2014
Pro-Russian activists in Donetsk not interested in talking to Mikhail Khodorkovsky ...
10:09
27.4.2014
10:19
27.4.2014
What tanks think of the trenches being dug to keep them out of Ukraine ...