Pro-Federalist Ukrainians turn back assault by Right Sector gunmen.

[another_liberal]

Last edited Sun Apr 20, 2014, 10:30 AM - Edit history (1)

A convoy of four vehicles full of armed, "Right Sector Party" neo-fascists attacked an outpost of pro-federalist Ukrainians near the eastern city of Slavyansk last night. Six are believed dead, with several seriously wounded. It is not known how many Right Sector casualties may have been taken away when the attackers were forced to flee.

Up to six deaths in overnight checkpoint raid in Eastern Ukraine.

Six people have been reportedly killed in a gunfight in Slavyansk, a city in eastern Ukraine held by anti-government protesters. The fatalities include four protesters and two attackers, who are believed to be from the Right Sector paramilitary. The deaths came after a night attack on a protester checkpoint on the outskirts of the city, an eyewitness told RT. Four cars drove by the checkpoint and opened fire at the local residents manning it, killing three people and seriously injuring several others.

“They approached with their high beam headlamps on. Our man went to them and asked not to blind us, show IDs and open the trunk for inspection. Then an assault rifle got stuck out of the window and he was gunned down,” the witness, Vladimir, said. He added some of the people trying to flee the attackers were shot in their backs. One gunshot victim died later in hospital from a head wound, local medics said. Two others are undergoing treatment.

The checkpoint was in the control of 26 civilians armed with bats. Their lack of firearms was due to a so-called “Easter truce” announced by both the Kiev authorities and the protest leaders to de-escalate tension. Among the victims of the night attack is Sergey Rudenko, 53, who worked as a school bus driver, his wife told RIA Novosti. He lived in a village near Slavyansk and was guarding the checkpoint on Easter night together with his two adult sons. As the civilians were pinned down, a group of 20 protesters with firearms came from the city. They opened fire on the attackers, killing two of them and sending the rest running.
The protesters captured two of the attackers’ four cars, which were damaged in the gunfight and later torched by protesters angry over the deaths of their fellow Slavyansk residents.

Footage of the equipment confiscated showed firearms including a machine gun, a night vision device, aerial photos of Slavyansk, military uniforms, camping tools and other things handy for guerrilla warfare. There was also a medallion with Right Sector paramilitary symbols, which implicated the radical nationalist movement in the attack. The attackers may have been planning a subsequent raid on the protester-held TV tower in Slavyansk, which is marked by a circle on the maps discovered at the captured cars, protest leader, Vyacheslav Ponomaryev, said.

(snip)

Read more, and see video of the scene of the attack, at: http://rt.com/news/slavyansk-checkpoint-shooting-killed-640/

Russia on Eastern Ukraine shooting: Kiev must fulfill Geneva de-escalation pledge.

The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed outrage over the deadly gun battle on Saturday night in the protester-held city of Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine. It said Kiev must deliver on its commitment to de-escalate the violence. Russia, Ukraine, the US and the EU agreed this week in Geneva on a roadmap to calm tension down in protest-gripped eastern Ukraine. The agreement includes disarmaming paramilitary groups on both sides of the conflict.

Yet on Saturday night an apparent raid by a Right Sector radical paramilitary unit ended with up to 6 people killed in Slavyansk, a city in Ukraine’s Donetsk region controlled by anti-Kiev protesters. Moscow condemned the violence on Sunday and said it indicates Kiev’s unwillingness to implement the Geneva agreement.

“The Russian side is outraged with the provocation, which indicates that Kiev is unwilling to put in check and disarm nationalists and extremists,” the ministry said in a statement. The ministry added that Moscow “insists on the strict implementation by the Ukrainian side of its commitments to de-escalate the situation in southeastern Ukraine.”

The Geneva document agreed on Thursday after marathon negotiations is aimed at defusing the Ukrainian political crisis. In addition to disarming paramilitary groups, it provides for an amnesty for protesters not involved in violent crimes and preparation of constitutional reform to provide greater autonomy for Ukrainian regions.

Read more at: http://rt.com/news/russia-reaction-slavyansk-shooting-660/

[socialist_n_TN]

1. What this agreement does is disarm........

the anti-fascists in the east and legitimizes the current "interim" government, which did NOT come to power by any sort of ballot. This attack is the result of that agreement. The fascists were armed with weapons and the anti-fascists were armed with baseball bats. NOT a fair fight. If I were an anti-fascist in east Ukraine, no way that I would give up armaments.

[Igel]

2. What this article does is help people use stereotypes and labels

instead of thinking.

[socialist_n_TN]

3. Stereotypes are NOT the same as class forces and historical examples.....

of same. There's nothing new in the world. This type of shit has happened before in almost the exact same conditions. Economic conditions begat social conditions that lead to the rise of certain types of reactions TO those conditions.

[another_liberal]

4. It has to be a fearful time for those people.

Death could be very close at hand for any one of them. Who knows when the next attack will come?

[MohRokTah]

5. Why would I believe a word of what is written here?

It's Russia Times, for Christ's sake. You're spreading Putin propaganda.

Every last word of it is a lie.

[Tommy_Carcetti]

6. "Pro Federalist" "protesters"?

RT made a funny.