Russia ‘outraged’ at deadly shootout in east Ukraine
21 April 2014 5:55 AM IST
MOSCOW: Russia’s foreign ministry said on Sunday it was outraged by a deadly shootout in eastern Ukraine that breached an Easter truce, urging Kiev to abide by the terms of an international accord and de-escalate the situation.
‘The Russian side is outraged at this provocation by the fighters,’ the ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies.
‘The Russian side insists on Ukraine’s strictly fulfilling the obligations it took on to de-escalate the situation in south-eastern Ukraine.’
Four people were reported killed on Sunday in a gun battle in restive eastern Ukraine, shattering a fragile Easter truce in the crisis-hit former Soviet republic.
Three pro-Russian militants and one attacker were killed in a deadly firefight at a road block close to the separatist-held town of Slavyansk, local leader Vyatcheslav Ponomarev said. The identity of the assailants was not known. Kiev’s interim government had pledged a halt to military operations to oust the rebels until the end of the Orthodox Easter holidays on Monday. A pro-Russian militant at the scene told AFP that roughly twenty attackers in four cars had opened fire with automatic weapons on the rebel post early on Sunday. He could not, however, confirm any casualties.
The reported violence came as the United States was pressing Russia to persuade the pro-Kremlin rebels to abide by an international accord calling for them to surrender their weapons and leave occupied public buildings.
Overnight, Orthodox leaders in Kiev and Moscow traded barbs over the Ukraine crisis as politics overshadowed traditional Easter observances.
Patriarch Filaret thundered to the faithful in pro-West Kiev that Russia was an ‘enemy’ whose ‘attack’ on Ukraine was doomed to fail because it was evil and contrary to God’s will.
In Moscow, the patriarch of the Russian Church, Kirill, delivered a prayer for Ukraine in which he called on God in turn to put ‘an end to the designs of those who want to destroy Holy Russia’.
Kirill said that while Ukraine was ‘politically’ separate, ‘spiritually and historically’ it was at one with Russia, and he prayed that it would benefit from authorities that are ‘legitimately elected’. agencies
‘The Russian side is outraged at this provocation by the fighters,’ the ministry said in a statement quoted by Russian news agencies.
‘The Russian side insists on Ukraine’s strictly fulfilling the obligations it took on to de-escalate the situation in south-eastern Ukraine.’
Four people were reported killed on Sunday in a gun battle in restive eastern Ukraine, shattering a fragile Easter truce in the crisis-hit former Soviet republic.
Three pro-Russian militants and one attacker were killed in a deadly firefight at a road block close to the separatist-held town of Slavyansk, local leader Vyatcheslav Ponomarev said. The identity of the assailants was not known. Kiev’s interim government had pledged a halt to military operations to oust the rebels until the end of the Orthodox Easter holidays on Monday. A pro-Russian militant at the scene told AFP that roughly twenty attackers in four cars had opened fire with automatic weapons on the rebel post early on Sunday. He could not, however, confirm any casualties.
The reported violence came as the United States was pressing Russia to persuade the pro-Kremlin rebels to abide by an international accord calling for them to surrender their weapons and leave occupied public buildings.
Overnight, Orthodox leaders in Kiev and Moscow traded barbs over the Ukraine crisis as politics overshadowed traditional Easter observances.
Patriarch Filaret thundered to the faithful in pro-West Kiev that Russia was an ‘enemy’ whose ‘attack’ on Ukraine was doomed to fail because it was evil and contrary to God’s will.
In Moscow, the patriarch of the Russian Church, Kirill, delivered a prayer for Ukraine in which he called on God in turn to put ‘an end to the designs of those who want to destroy Holy Russia’.
Kirill said that while Ukraine was ‘politically’ separate, ‘spiritually and historically’ it was at one with Russia, and he prayed that it would benefit from authorities that are ‘legitimately elected’. agencies
Next Story
