6/15/2014
Separatists Shoot Down Ukrainian Military Plane, Kill 49
KIEV – Ukrainian authorities confirmed that pro-Russian separatists shot down a military transport plane early Saturday as it was landing in the southeastern city of Lugansk, killing 49 people, including dozens of soldiers.
The rebels, who claimed responsibility for the incident, downed the Russian-made Il-76 jet at around 1:00 a.m. using two surface-to-air missiles.
“The militiamen have informed us that they shot down an Il-76 plane in the early morning hours with soldiers on board. The plane went down at the airport,” a spokesperson for the self-proclaimed “People’s Republic of Lugansk” told Russian news agencies.
Nine crew members and 40 soldiers who were to participate in an “anti-terrorist” operation launched two months ago by Kiev against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine were traveling in the aircraft.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said a national day of mourning will be observed on Sunday to honor those killed in the downing of the military jet and vowed an “adequate response to the terrorists.”
Also Saturday, rebels killed three members of Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service in Mariupol, a city in the southern part of the neighboring region of Donetsk, which also has declared its independence from Kiev, that law-enforcement agency said.
Shortly beforehand, two Ukrainian military planes bombed the police station in the city of Gorlovka, the rebels’ headquarters in that city located 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Donetsk.
Local health authorities confirmed that one person died and six others were seriously wounded in that attack.
Clashes were continuing Saturday on the outskirts of Lugansk, a city of nearly 500,000 inhabitants that is the stronghold of the pro-Russian separatist movement.
Fighting in southeastern Ukraine has intensified in recent days after a recent mid-week pause apparently linked to diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the armed conflict pitting government forces and separatists.
Long-simmering tensions between pro-European western Ukraine and the country’s eastern region, which has close ties with Russia, were exacerbated by the ouster in late February of President Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian-speaker from the East.
The crisis that led to Yanukovych’s ouster, which Russia terms a coup, erupted at the end of November when Yanukovych backed away from plans to ink a pact with the European Union and instead signed a $15 billion financial-aid package with Russia.
Brussels’ offer of closer ties with the EU was conditioned on a pledge by Ukraine not to enter into any additional economic accords with Russia, Kiev’s leading energy supplier.
Russians in the Crimean Peninsula had reacted with alarm in February when Yanukovych was removed and a government including far-right Ukrainian nationalists took power in Kiev. Moscow deployed troops in the peninsula, claiming it was protecting ethnic Russians and Russia’s interests.
The Kremlin subsequently annexed Crimea in March after the inhabitants of that region voted to secede from Ukraine.
The West has denounced the annexation as illegal and also accuses Russia of fomenting unrest elsewhere in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies that it is stoking the separatist movement and has blasted Kiev for its military operations in that region.
Separatists Shoot Down Ukrainian Military Plane, Kill 49
KIEV – Ukrainian authorities confirmed that pro-Russian separatists shot down a military transport plane early Saturday as it was landing in the southeastern city of Lugansk, killing 49 people, including dozens of soldiers.The rebels, who claimed responsibility for the incident, downed the Russian-made Il-76 jet at around 1:00 a.m. using two surface-to-air missiles.
“The militiamen have informed us that they shot down an Il-76 plane in the early morning hours with soldiers on board. The plane went down at the airport,” a spokesperson for the self-proclaimed “People’s Republic of Lugansk” told Russian news agencies.
Nine crew members and 40 soldiers who were to participate in an “anti-terrorist” operation launched two months ago by Kiev against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine were traveling in the aircraft.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said a national day of mourning will be observed on Sunday to honor those killed in the downing of the military jet and vowed an “adequate response to the terrorists.”
Also Saturday, rebels killed three members of Ukraine’s State Border Guard Service in Mariupol, a city in the southern part of the neighboring region of Donetsk, which also has declared its independence from Kiev, that law-enforcement agency said.
Shortly beforehand, two Ukrainian military planes bombed the police station in the city of Gorlovka, the rebels’ headquarters in that city located 50 kilometers (31 miles) from Donetsk.
Local health authorities confirmed that one person died and six others were seriously wounded in that attack.
Clashes were continuing Saturday on the outskirts of Lugansk, a city of nearly 500,000 inhabitants that is the stronghold of the pro-Russian separatist movement.
Fighting in southeastern Ukraine has intensified in recent days after a recent mid-week pause apparently linked to diplomatic efforts to bring an end to the armed conflict pitting government forces and separatists.
Long-simmering tensions between pro-European western Ukraine and the country’s eastern region, which has close ties with Russia, were exacerbated by the ouster in late February of President Viktor Yanukovych, a Russian-speaker from the East.
The crisis that led to Yanukovych’s ouster, which Russia terms a coup, erupted at the end of November when Yanukovych backed away from plans to ink a pact with the European Union and instead signed a $15 billion financial-aid package with Russia.
Brussels’ offer of closer ties with the EU was conditioned on a pledge by Ukraine not to enter into any additional economic accords with Russia, Kiev’s leading energy supplier.
Russians in the Crimean Peninsula had reacted with alarm in February when Yanukovych was removed and a government including far-right Ukrainian nationalists took power in Kiev. Moscow deployed troops in the peninsula, claiming it was protecting ethnic Russians and Russia’s interests.
The Kremlin subsequently annexed Crimea in March after the inhabitants of that region voted to secede from Ukraine.
The West has denounced the annexation as illegal and also accuses Russia of fomenting unrest elsewhere in eastern Ukraine. Moscow denies that it is stoking the separatist movement and has blasted Kiev for its military operations in that region.
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