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PR Newswire
03-05-2014, 03:09 PM
Dozens were killed in Ukraine after a building in Odessa was set ablaze during clashes and government forces attacked separatists near the Russian border in one of the deadliest days since the Ukrainian conflict erupted.
The violence reached Odessa, where the Interior Ministry said 37 people were killed and almost 200 injured in the building fire and street battle that began when pro-Russian protesters in the port city attacked a rally in favor of a unified country. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said today that government units were continuing operations in the the eastern region of Donetsk to expel militants and free hostages.
The “active phase of the anti-terrorist operation continues at dawn,” Avakov said in a Facebook post as troops surrounded the eastern city of Slovyansk.
The assault in Slovyansk marked the biggest operation yet by the Ukrainian government to retake ground from as many as 1,000 armed gunmen who’ve seized buildings in more than 10 cities and taken several dozen captives. Some are demanding a referendum on joining Russia akin to the ballot that led to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March.
The government in Kiev, joined by the U.S. and European Union, accuses Russia of stirring unrest to undermine Ukraine’s May 25 presidential election. U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday set that day as the trigger for possible economic sanctions against Russia if it fails to pull back its support for separatists.
‘Range of Tools’
“We have a range of tools at our disposal” to hit various Russian industries with sanctions, Obama told reporters at a joint news conference with Merkel at the White House. If Russia doesn’t change course, “it will face increasing costs,” both economic and diplomatic, he said.
Amid the escalating tensions, the yield on Ukrainian government debt rose 25 basis points to a six-week high of 10.90 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Russian bonds fell, with the yield on ruble-denominated government debt due February 2027 jumping 20 basis points to a seven-week high of 9.67 percent. The ruble slid 0.3 percent against the central bank’s target dollar-euro basket.
Penalties imposed by the U.S. and European Union have so far targeted officials, individuals and companies tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. The next step would be action against sectors of the Russian economy, including banking and energy. Those penalties would have consequences mostly for European countries, which have more extensive economic ties with Russia than the U.S. does.
Slovyansk Assault
During the assault on Slovyansk, militants shot down two helicopters, killing two pilots, the Defense Ministry said. Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov said in a statement that “many” rebels were killed, wounded or captured.
Interior Ministry troops seized nine rebel checkpoints in Slovyansk, detaining four rebels, according to Avakov, who called the operation “effective.” While the city is blockaded, fighting hasn’t reached its center, Russia’s state-owned Rossiya 24 television reported.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said the use of advanced weapons showed the separatists were “professional saboteur groups” rather than peaceful protesters. In a statement, it called their tactics “characteristic of foreign military or mercenaries.”
“They threw everything they had at us,” Igor Strelkov, a pro-Russian militia commander in the Donetsk region, where Slovyansk is located, said on Rossiya 24.
Odessa Arrests
Turmoil also erupted yesterday in Odessa, Ukraine’s second-largest city, located along the Black Sea. Petro Lutsyuk, head of the Interior Ministry’s directorate in the city, said today on the agency’s website that more than 130 people had been detained by police, with 10 criminal cases already started.
U.S. intelligence officials have warned for at least a month of a possible Russian-orchestrated campaign in Odessa similar to those in Crimea and in Ukraine’s easternmost, largely Russian-speaking regions. Not only does the port city have economic and military significance, it also sits between Crimea and pro-Russian areas in eastern Ukraine and the breakaway Transnistria region of neighboring Moldova.
Nearby Nikolaev hosts much of the country’s defense and shipbuilding industry, as well as Zorya-Mashproekt, a state enterprise that manufactures gas turbines for OAO Gazprom (GAZP ▼ -1.37% 127.00), the Russian natural gas producer and exporter.
In an e-mailed statement, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the U.S. mourned the loss of those killed in Odessa and called on “all sides to work together to restore calm and law and order.”
Russia ‘Outraged’
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was “outraged” by yesterday’s fighting. The Ukrainian move kills all hope of implementing an April peace accord reached in Geneva between Ukraine, Russia, the U.S. and the EU, said Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman.
Putin says Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine are at risk after the ouster of his ally, President Viktor Yanukovych, in February after months of protests. Russia, which used that reasoning as it annexed the Black Sea Crimean peninsula the next month, has 40,000 troops massed on its neighbor’s border, according to NATO.
During an emergency meeting yesterday of the United Nations Security Council in New York, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin repeated the Kremlin’s stance that the interim Ukrainian government in Kiev is illegitimate.
‘Pyromaniac Firefighter’
Ukrainian authorities are using “heavy military force against peaceful protesters in a criminal misadventure,” while Russia is making efforts to de-escalate and settle the crisis, Churkin said. He said the U.S. and its European allies should “stop toying with the destiny of the Ukrainian people.”
French Ambassador Gerard Araud likened Russia to a “pyromaniac firefighter” that has “unleashed the demon of nationalism and armed mobs in Ukraine.” Churkin is “a vodka-loving James Bond,” Araud said.
At their news conference in Washington, Obama and Merkel said Russia must pull back support for the separatists so Ukraine’s May 25 presidential election can go ahead unimpeded.
If the vote can’t be held, “we will not have a choice but to move forward” with more sanctions, Obama said. Merkel called the election “crucial” and said she’s ready to support economic sanctions if needed.
Obama is seeking to coordinate a united U.S.-EU response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Merkel has a pivotal role. Germany is Europe’s largest economy and had $89 billion in trade with Russia in 2012. Putin has threatened to escalate economic warfare if further sanctions are imposed.
“When we will reach a particular tipping point is very hard to say in advance,” Merkel said. “But all I can say is that the elections on May 25 are a decisive juncture for me and if there is further destabilization, things will get more and more difficult.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net; Kateryna Choursina in Kiev at kchoursina@bloomberg.net; Jonathan Allen in Washington at jallen149@bloomberg.net
The violence reached Odessa, where the Interior Ministry said 37 people were killed and almost 200 injured in the building fire and street battle that began when pro-Russian protesters in the port city attacked a rally in favor of a unified country. Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said today that government units were continuing operations in the the eastern region of Donetsk to expel militants and free hostages.
The “active phase of the anti-terrorist operation continues at dawn,” Avakov said in a Facebook post as troops surrounded the eastern city of Slovyansk.
The assault in Slovyansk marked the biggest operation yet by the Ukrainian government to retake ground from as many as 1,000 armed gunmen who’ve seized buildings in more than 10 cities and taken several dozen captives. Some are demanding a referendum on joining Russia akin to the ballot that led to Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in March.
The government in Kiev, joined by the U.S. and European Union, accuses Russia of stirring unrest to undermine Ukraine’s May 25 presidential election. U.S. President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday set that day as the trigger for possible economic sanctions against Russia if it fails to pull back its support for separatists.
‘Range of Tools’
“We have a range of tools at our disposal” to hit various Russian industries with sanctions, Obama told reporters at a joint news conference with Merkel at the White House. If Russia doesn’t change course, “it will face increasing costs,” both economic and diplomatic, he said.
Amid the escalating tensions, the yield on Ukrainian government debt rose 25 basis points to a six-week high of 10.90 percent, data compiled by Bloomberg show. Russian bonds fell, with the yield on ruble-denominated government debt due February 2027 jumping 20 basis points to a seven-week high of 9.67 percent. The ruble slid 0.3 percent against the central bank’s target dollar-euro basket.
Penalties imposed by the U.S. and European Union have so far targeted officials, individuals and companies tied to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle. The next step would be action against sectors of the Russian economy, including banking and energy. Those penalties would have consequences mostly for European countries, which have more extensive economic ties with Russia than the U.S. does.
Slovyansk Assault
During the assault on Slovyansk, militants shot down two helicopters, killing two pilots, the Defense Ministry said. Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov said in a statement that “many” rebels were killed, wounded or captured.
Interior Ministry troops seized nine rebel checkpoints in Slovyansk, detaining four rebels, according to Avakov, who called the operation “effective.” While the city is blockaded, fighting hasn’t reached its center, Russia’s state-owned Rossiya 24 television reported.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said the use of advanced weapons showed the separatists were “professional saboteur groups” rather than peaceful protesters. In a statement, it called their tactics “characteristic of foreign military or mercenaries.”
“They threw everything they had at us,” Igor Strelkov, a pro-Russian militia commander in the Donetsk region, where Slovyansk is located, said on Rossiya 24.
Odessa Arrests
Turmoil also erupted yesterday in Odessa, Ukraine’s second-largest city, located along the Black Sea. Petro Lutsyuk, head of the Interior Ministry’s directorate in the city, said today on the agency’s website that more than 130 people had been detained by police, with 10 criminal cases already started.
U.S. intelligence officials have warned for at least a month of a possible Russian-orchestrated campaign in Odessa similar to those in Crimea and in Ukraine’s easternmost, largely Russian-speaking regions. Not only does the port city have economic and military significance, it also sits between Crimea and pro-Russian areas in eastern Ukraine and the breakaway Transnistria region of neighboring Moldova.
Nearby Nikolaev hosts much of the country’s defense and shipbuilding industry, as well as Zorya-Mashproekt, a state enterprise that manufactures gas turbines for OAO Gazprom (GAZP ▼ -1.37% 127.00), the Russian natural gas producer and exporter.
In an e-mailed statement, State Department spokeswoman Marie Harf said the U.S. mourned the loss of those killed in Odessa and called on “all sides to work together to restore calm and law and order.”
Russia ‘Outraged’
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said it was “outraged” by yesterday’s fighting. The Ukrainian move kills all hope of implementing an April peace accord reached in Geneva between Ukraine, Russia, the U.S. and the EU, said Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman.
Putin says Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine are at risk after the ouster of his ally, President Viktor Yanukovych, in February after months of protests. Russia, which used that reasoning as it annexed the Black Sea Crimean peninsula the next month, has 40,000 troops massed on its neighbor’s border, according to NATO.
During an emergency meeting yesterday of the United Nations Security Council in New York, Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin repeated the Kremlin’s stance that the interim Ukrainian government in Kiev is illegitimate.
‘Pyromaniac Firefighter’
Ukrainian authorities are using “heavy military force against peaceful protesters in a criminal misadventure,” while Russia is making efforts to de-escalate and settle the crisis, Churkin said. He said the U.S. and its European allies should “stop toying with the destiny of the Ukrainian people.”
French Ambassador Gerard Araud likened Russia to a “pyromaniac firefighter” that has “unleashed the demon of nationalism and armed mobs in Ukraine.” Churkin is “a vodka-loving James Bond,” Araud said.
At their news conference in Washington, Obama and Merkel said Russia must pull back support for the separatists so Ukraine’s May 25 presidential election can go ahead unimpeded.
If the vote can’t be held, “we will not have a choice but to move forward” with more sanctions, Obama said. Merkel called the election “crucial” and said she’s ready to support economic sanctions if needed.
Obama is seeking to coordinate a united U.S.-EU response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. Merkel has a pivotal role. Germany is Europe’s largest economy and had $89 billion in trade with Russia in 2012. Putin has threatened to escalate economic warfare if further sanctions are imposed.
“When we will reach a particular tipping point is very hard to say in advance,” Merkel said. “But all I can say is that the elections on May 25 are a decisive juncture for me and if there is further destabilization, things will get more and more difficult.”
To contact the reporters on this story: Daryna Krasnolutska in Kiev at dkrasnolutsk@bloomberg.net; Kateryna Choursina in Kiev at kchoursina@bloomberg.net; Jonathan Allen in Washington at jallen149@bloomberg.net