Ukrainian govt offers evidence of Russian invasion of Donetsk Oblast

Soldiers carrying automatic rifles, dressed in camouflage, continued to arrive in the Donetsk Oblast city of Sloviansk throughout the day, reported slavgorod.com.ua. They identified themselves as Ukrainian and said they arrived from Crimea “to ensure a bright future for its citizens.” Their armed personnel carrier bore no license plates. Among the leaders of the separatists, Viacheslav Ponomariov, asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to militarily intervene in the Donetsk Oblast during an April 14 press conference in a Sloviansk state building under separatist control. “We turn to you with the plea to support us in the defense of the homeland,” he said. “We request help in defending our families, children and elderly. We request that you personally turn your attention to the situation that has emerged.”

Many Ukrainian police stations in the Donetsk Oblast are demonstrating loyalty to Russian agents, according to April 14 news reports. A Russian lieutenant colonel led the takeover of the police headquarters in the Donetsk Oblast city of Horlivka, reported Oleksiy Honcharenko, a Ukrainian blogger. He identified himself as a Russian citizen to the police officers and said he arrived from Simferopol, the capital of Crimea. Separatists also took over the city council building in Horlivka.

The Ukrainian government has enough evidence to allege the Russian government is exporting terrorism to Ukraine, reported on April 14 Danylo Lubkivskiy, a deputy foreign affairs minister. He identified photographs of weapons that aren’t produced in Ukraine and video evidence that the soldiers taking over buildings are Russians. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) produced audio recordings alleging the involvement of agents with the State Reconnaissance Administration of the Russian Armed Forces in the takeover of state buildings in eastern Ukraine.

Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov suggested to United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in a telephone conversation that United Nations peacekeepers support the Ukrainian government’s anti-terrorist operation against Russian armed agents in the Donetsk Oblast, reported the press service of the Ukrainian parliament on April 14. “The Russian Federation is dispatching special forces to the east of our country, who are using arms to take over administrative buildings and are threatening the lives of hundreds of thousands of our citizens with their actions,” Turchynov said, explaining that the situation is distinct from what happened in Crimea because the majority of the population doesn’t support the separatists. He suggested that the world community affirmed the legality of Ukraine’s anti-terrorist operation by conducted joint operations with United Nations peacekeepers. Turchynov announced this morning the launch of Ukraine’s anti-terrorist operations in the Donetsk Oblast.

Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko asked the world for military aid in defending against the Russian invasion of the Ukrainian mainland, she said. “I ask the world’s leaders for direct military aid to the Ukrainian people, who are fighting for their freedom and dying for this freedom,” she said in an April 14 press release. “I ask that world’s leaders to act.”

Tymoshenko called for a mass mobilization of the Ukrainian army. “The time has come to make decisions,” she said. “The era of reconciling the aggressor has ended.” Tymoshenko is a very close political partner to Ukraine’s acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov.

The West must give military support to Ukrainians in their fight against the Russians, U.S. foreign policy guru Zbigniew Brzezinski told the CNN television network on April 14. The current takeover of state buildings in the Donetsk Oblast by armed, unmarked men in masks bear a striking resemblance to the events in Crimea last month, he said. Russia is alleging that it’s a revolt of the people, but it’s truly testing whether it can take over this territory without significant opposition and continue to claim that this region separated itself from Ukraine, he said.

Zenon Zawada: Russian aggression is accelerating with little end in sight. The May 25 presidential election could be disrupted as a result.