Civil war looms as fighting rages in eastern Ukraine Published time: April 15, 2014 14:19
Edited time: April 24, 2014 10:17
Kiev’s troops remain in eastern Ukraine as the OSCE mission starts its work on “de-escalating” the situation on the ground. Anti-government protesters are unwilling to leave the seized buildings, demanding that the troops are pulled out first.
Thursday, April 24
18:49 GMT:
Russian senators have drafted a proposal to send a “peacekeeping contingent” to southeast Ukraine to avoid bloodshed in the region, Izvestiya reports, citing Federation Council member Valery Shnyakin.
Shnyakin, who is the deputy chair of the council’s international committee, said that all countries interested in the peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis should take part in talks on the proposed peacekeeping force.
“We must urgently put Russia, the US, the EU and Ukraine at the negotiation table and negotiate deploying a peacekeeping contingent to the southeast [of Ukraine]. We are now drafting this proposal and it will be brought up for discussion at the Federation Council session on April 29, and in case the situation escalates even more, it could happen earlier,” Shnyakin was quoted as saying.
18:34 GMT:
The German government has frozen military exports to Russia in connection with the situation in Ukraine, Germany’s Economy Ministry reportedly said in response to a request of the opposition Greens party.
According to German media, 69 export requests worth 5.18 million euro ($7.16 million) have been blocked.
“Because of the current political circumstances, no export licenses for defense goods for Russia are being granted. Furthermore, Germany has launched a study into what can be done about export licenses previously granted,” the ministry replied to the Greens’ request, Reuters reported.
17:56 GMT:
17:51 GMT:
War in eastern Ukraine must be prevented “at all costs,” Itar-Tass reported UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as saying.
Ban’s spokesman told journalists that all sides involved in the conflict in Ukraine must stick to the Geneva agreements of April 17, refrain from violence, repression and provocative actions.
Saying that he is “deeply concerned that the situation could quickly spin out of control with unpredictable consequences,” the UN secretary-general said that “military action must be avoided at all costs.”
17:42 GMT:
The actions of the Kiev authorities in eastern Ukraine make the legitimacy of the upcoming Ukrainian early elections “questionable,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists Thursday.
“The way the situation is developing in Ukraine, such criminal actions ordered by those in Kiev, they a priori put the legitimacy of the elections set for May under a serious question mark,” Peskov said.
17:32 GMT:
National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (SNBO) officials say the military operation in eastern Ukraine will continue “in stages.”
“The anti-terrorist operation will continue. It will be carried out in several stages. We cannot unveil these stages. Today one of those active stages took place. It fulfilled its objective,” deputy secretary of the SNBO, Victoria Syumar, told Hromadske TV on Thursday.
17:00 GMT:
American reporter Simon Ostrovsky, detained by anti-government activists in Slavyansk on Tuesday, has been freed, CBC journalist Jean-Francois Belanger has confirmed. According to Belanger, Ostrovsky is now with the CBC crew en route to Donetsk.
VICE News later confirmed Ostrovsky has been set free in a website statement:
"Vice News is delighted to confirm that our colleague and friend Simon Ostrovsky has been safely released and is in good health."
16:48 GMT:
Right Sector radicals have blockaded an administrative building in the western Ukrainian city of Kolomyya to protest the appointment of the new local administration head, picked by the coup-imposed acting Ukrainian president Aleksandr Turchinov, local media reports. The Right Sector and local self-defense say there should not be any city official named until popular elections. The city administration officials say they have not been able to continue their work and warn that the blockade of the building will affect the life of local residents.
16:17 GMT:
http://rt.com/news/eastern-ukraine-army-operation-680/