Pro-Russian aggression escalates in eastern regions of Ukraine

The Situation is not getting better in the three most eastern regions of Ukraine, where pro-Russian terrorists are still active. The anti-terrorist operation (ATO) in the Donetsk region, that started two weeks ago, has turned into a farce, as commented by military expert Dmitry Tymchuk. He elaborated that every move and almost every shot of ATO participants is strictly controlled, which leads to poor result of the operation. Meanwhile, terrorists extended their geography of occupied cities on April 28: in the city of Kostyantynivka (Donetsk Oblast, near Sloviansk, the city which is fully controlled by terrorists), unknown armed people took over the police station. In another neighboring city, Kramatorsk, two officers were wounded by unknown people, according to Dmitry Tymchuk. In Donetsk city, unknown people attacked those who went for a peaceful gathering for united Ukraine – about 15 pro-Ukrainian activists were injured and at least five were kidnapped. This morning, local police was able to release the five hostages from the former local office of Party of Regions, according to ex-Internal Affairs Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, as cited by Ukrayinska Pravda. 

It was not calm in the regions neighboring Donetsk Oblast on April 28. In Luhansk Oblast, a leader of an anti-separatist movement Timur Yuldashev was seized by pro-separatist activists and he was delivered as a hostage to a building of the Luhansk SBU (State Securities Service Office) which is fully controlled by armed separatists. In Kharkiv, mayor Gennadiy Kernes was seriously wounded by a gun shot. The government representatives link this assassination attempt to a revenge of separatists and their attempt to escalate conflicts in Kharkiv Oblast, where all the occupied building have been freed by government forces. Kernes’ friend and leader of Party of Regions Mykhailo Dobkin hinted in a TV show that this attempt might have been done by supporters of Euromaidan movement. 

Meanwhile, the government was making some attempts to de-escalate the situation is the east: on April 28, the National Securities and Defense Council of Ukraine ordered Cabinet of Ministers to prepare necessary legislation to convene a national referendum. The referendum may include questions of status of the Russian language in Ukraine, as well as consider a “federalization” option for Ukraine. These are core demands of people that have occupied buildings in cities in Eastern Ukraine. A vote in favor of convening a referendum may be done by Ukrainian parliament as early as today.