Putin calls for Ukraine to end violence amidst evidence of Russian role

Russian President Vladimir Putin called on the Ukrainian government to immediately end the “violence and bloodshed” in the eastern regions, the Kremlin press-service reported on May 31, referring to a phone call with French President Francois Hollande. He also called upon the Kyiv government to conduct a direct dialogue with “the representatives of southeastern Ukraine.” President-elect Petro Poroshenko is expected to travel to the Donetsk Oblast this week “to meet with those people who haven’t taken up arms,” he said. Aleksandr Borodai, the self-declared prime minister of the Donetsk People’s Republic, said its leaders will conduct a dialogue with the Ukrainian government only when it recognizes the independence of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts and when Ukrainian armies will be removed from their territories.

Economic sanctions against the Russian Federation were among the factors that ensured the successful presidential elections held on May 25, said U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt in an interview published on May 31 on the zn.uanews site. The U.S. will continue to work with the EU to pressure the Russian government, he said, making the sanctions most effective.

More than 400 pro-Russian terrorists attacked the administration building of the Luhansk Border Detachment in the Luhansk Oblast on the early morning of June 2, shooting at them from residential buildings and thus preventing retaliatory fire. Several border officers were injured and fires ignited on the territory, reported the site of the State Border Service. Ukrainian Armed Forces and law enforcement authorities have yet to offer assistance. About 80 terrorists stormed a border post in the Luhansk Oblast on May 30. On May 31, terrorists attacked two army bases in the Luhansk Oblast, stealing arms and destroying a radio station. The State Border Service arrested on June 1 a Russian citizen who carried weapons with the goal of participating in illegal armed formations. He claimed to be a commander of a pro-Russian militia in the Donbas region.

The weekend’s most intense battles occurred in the Donetsk Oblast city of Sloviansk, with at least five injuries reported but no casualties. Pro-Russian terrorists continue to hold 200 people hostage. Another eight observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have yet to be released as of Monday morning, the Ukrayinska Pravda news site reported on June 2, previously estimating 15 OSCE observers held hostage. Terrorists kidnapped on May 31 a traffic officer in the Luhansk Oblast city of Antratsyt and demanded an $86,200 ransom, reported the EuroMaidan SOS tweet.

No law enforcement agencies or military forces are assisting the State Border Service in protecting the Ukrainian border with Russia, said  on June 1 Mykola Lytvyn, the director of the State Border Service , explaining why so many Russians were getting through. “Every night, we have clashes with mercenaries, bandits, and separatists that try to cross the border and block our units and crossing points and attack our border squads,” he said. “We’ve gone from security to defense. On May 30, we intercepted a column from Russia, killed five fighters and halted a large arms supply transferred on three vehicles.” As of June 1, the State Border Service has detained more than 250 Russian citizens, Lytvyn said.

The pro-Russian Vostok battalion in the Donetsk Oblast consists of Chechens, Ossetians, locals, as well as fighters of Ukraine’s Alfa and Berkut divisions which fought against the EuroMaidan, reported journalist Max Avdeev, who has interacted with the fighters and posted photographs of them. The battalion’s commander is from Ossetia, he reported. Almost all the 50 Chechens were killed in the battle for the Donetsk airport on May 26, Avdeev reported. The commander of the pro-Ukrainian Donbas battalion, Semen Semenchenko, said on June 1 that he expects the government’s anti-terrorist operation will last “not one month, possibly up to a year.” A quick resolution would require enormous efforts to close channels of supplies of soldiers and weapons from Russia, he said.