Ukraine launches anti-terror operation against Russian 'acts of aggression'

Causalities reported in pro-Russian and Ukrainian gun battle in Eastern cities; attacks prompt Kiev to prepare troops to tackle “act of aggression by Russia.”

Casulaties have been reported in a deadly gun battle between pro-Russian gunmen and Ukraine officials in the eastern city of Sloviansk.
Casulaties have been reported in a deadly gun battle between pro-Russian gunmen and Ukraine officials in the eastern city of Sloviansk.

A Ukrainian officer has been killed in a gun battle with pro-Russian armed separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, the interior ministry has said.

On Saturday, pro-Russian gunmen took control of Sloviansk prompting Kiev to prepare troops to tackle what it called an “act of aggression by Russia”, and putting the conflict between the neighbours into a dangerous new phase.

Security officials have expressed concern that the attacks carried out by the armed militants were “orchestrated and synchronised, similar to previous attacks in eastern Ukraine and Crimea.”

In addition, reports have stated that militants were equipped with specialised Russian weapons and wore the same uniforms as those who invaded Crimea.

Emergency sources have confirmed that “both sides suffered a number of casualties” in the Sloviansk gun battle.

Meanwhile, pro-Russian forces have since targeted at least four other cities, subsequently, prompting Kiev to launch an “anti-terror operation.”

In Kramatorsk, 80km to the north, gunmen seized the police station after a shootout with police, witnesses said. An organised military unit of over 20 men wearing matching military fatigues and carrying automatic weapons took over the building.

Unconfirmed reports suggested official buildings had also been taken over in two other cities - Mariupol and Yenakievo. Similar accounts emerged from Sloviansk and Kramatorsk on Saturday of armed men dressed in camouflage arriving in buses and storming the police stations.

Pro-Russian demonstrators also continued their occupation of the main administrative building in the regional capital Donetsk, which they have held for one week.

Kiev and Western powers accuse Moscow of inciting the trouble. The Kremlin denies the charge.

US officials said on Saturday there had been a "concerted campaign" by forces with Russian support to undermine the authorities in Kiev. Secretary of State John Kerry warned of "additional consequences" if Russia failed to make efforts to "de-escalate" and pull its troops back from Ukraine's border.

On his part, Ukraine's interior minister, Arsen Avakov, called the attacks in the east "a display of external aggression from Russia."

But Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the Kiev government was "demonstrating its inability to take responsibility for the fate of the country".

Eastern Ukraine has a large Russian-speaking population and has seen a series of protests since the ousting of Ukraine's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February.

Widespread protests across Ukraine were initially triggered by Yanukovych decision to abandon an EU trade deal. In February, amid deadly clashes in the capital Kiev, Yanukovych fled to neighbouring Russia.

On February 27, pro-Russian gunmen seized key buildings in Crimea while, on March 16, Crimea voters voted to secede to Russia.