Russia orders border drills after Ukrainian forces kill separatists
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RUSSIA’S defense minister yesterday announced new military exercises along the Ukrainian border just hours after Ukrainian troops killed at least two pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine.
The clashes were the first since acting President Oleksandr Turchynov ordered the resumption Tuesday of military operations in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia protesters and masked gunmen have seized government buildings in at least 10 cities and set up roadblocks.
In St Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin decried what he described as Ukraine’s “punitive operation” and threatened Kiev with unspecified consequences.
“If the Kiev government is using the army against its own people, this is clearly a grave crime,” Putin said.
Later in the day, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced new military exercises in Russia’s south and west in reaction to the mounting unrest in eastern Ukraine and NATO exercises in Poland.
“We have to react to these developments somehow,” he said in televised comments.
Russia already has tens of thousands of troops stationed in regions along its border with Ukraine. The latest Russian military exercises will involve ground troops in the south and west and the air force patrolling the border, Shoigu said.
He quoted unspecified sources saying that Kiev has deployed 11,000 troops and 160 tanks against the pro-Russia insurgents, which he put at less than 2,000.
The Ukrainian government and the West have accused Russia of directing and supporting the insurgents and worry that Putin would welcome a pretext for a military intervention in eastern Ukraine. Putin denies that any Russian agents are operating in Ukraine, but insists he has the right to intervene to protect the ethnic Russians who make up a sizeable minority in eastern Ukraine.
Earlier in Tokyo, United States President Barack Obama accused Moscow of failing to live up to “the spirit or the letter” of a deal last week to ease tensions.
The Ukrainian Interior Ministry said military and special police forces killed “up to five terrorists” while destroying three checkpoints north of Slovyansk, 160 kilometers west of the Russian border. One government member was injured.
Stella Khorosheva, a spokeswoman for the Slovyansk insurgents, said two pro-Russia fighters were killed at a checkpoint in the village of Khrestyshche, 10 kilometers north of the city. She said checks were being made at hospitals to see if there were other casualties.
Khorosheva later said the pro-Russian militia had regained control over the disputed checkpoints and fighters were ready to repel any attack.
“We will defend ourselves to our last drop of blood. We are ready to repeat Stalingrad,” she said, invoking the memory of the Soviet army’s victory over German forces in 1942-43.
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