Breaking: Kiev launches Military Action in Eastern Ukraine

a reply to: VirusGuard Well you are correct about the pump prices going up ..sheesh ..as for the hairy chin well maybe she doesnt have access to hair be gone like the women in the west do ...

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13:33 GMT:
Ukraine’s Security Service, the SBU, has switched off access to voters data for several district councils of the eastern Donetsk region. According to the SBU, the anti-government protesters were trying to access the data to organize a referendum on the future of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions on May 11.

All-in-all, five district councils, including those in the cities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, were denied access to the voters’ data.

13:26 GMT:
There is a “real” possibility that Ukraine will split into several parts in the ongoing crisis, Poland’s Prime Minister Donald Tusk has said.

“The risk that eastern regions of Ukraine will become detached is real. I am afraid that we will not have to wait long before we see more acts of the Ukrainian drama,” Tusk was quoted as saying by Reuters.

He also claimed that the conflict will have an “enduring impact” on Europe’s security, predicting it is not going to end any time soon.

12:35 GMT:
Anti- and pro-government demonstrations have been held next to the City Council in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov.

Those who protest against the Kiev coup-appointed government were holding a large banner saying “No elections without a referendum.” The activists also demand the official status of the Russian language in the region.

Meanwhile, the pro-government supporters have gathered next to the WWII Eternal Flame memorial in the city, shouting slogans in favor of “united Ukraine.”

Kharkov City Council MPs have addressed the Ukrainian Parliament on Wednesday with a demand to pass a law on regional referendums in the country.

12:35 GMT:
Several hundred anti-government activists continue to protest in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk next to the regional government building, which is still controlled by anti-Kiev protesters, RIA Novosti reports. Protesters say they rally in support of the federalization of the country.

The demonstration is being held peacefully, with the protesters playing football and handing out leaflets.

15:05 GMT:
An American journalist for Vice News, Simon Ostrovsky, has been detained by activists in the eastern city of Slavyansk, protest leader and “People’s Mayor”of Slavyansk Vyacheslav Ponomaryov has said, confirming media reports. He added that the journalist, who has dual US and Israeli citizenship, is believed to be an informant for the far-right Right Sector group, blamed for violence in the region.



The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović, has expressed concern over the security of journalists in eastern Ukraine. She called for the immediately freeing of Ostrovsky and urged an end to “the harassment and attacks on journalists” so they can “do their job.”

a reply to: the2ofusr1

the anti-government protesters were trying to access the data to organize a referendum on the future of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions on May 11.

We cannot allow a vote until we know the vote will go our way and so far all we have offered the people in the Ukraine is an IMF loan with little strings attached like public sector wages cut by 65%, half pension payments and a doubling of gas prices.

The puppet leaders in France are openly saying that the vote in May later this year must be postponed and we are not just talking about voting in the east but still I'm sure the western media will say that Putin is trying to delay any vote.

Russia / USA / Iran all need this conflict to run a lot longer else military spending won't be pushed up enough because people will riot back home in the USA over the increase in taxes to pay for it all and Putin's GDP won't rise fast enough.

China is keeping quite, far too quite so maybe they know that they are being stitched up by these so called warring factions and like me are waiting to see anything other than punitive sanctions, Bill cannot land here or we just digital removed $xxx from bank account "a" and pisst here is the number for bank account "b"

For all we know Russia and the USA are pretending to go head to head to build up the military on both sides ready to take on China, I trust none of them but I do know that us serfs are expected to pay for it all.

21:27 GMT:
The OSCE mission in Ukraine, in the daily press briefing, says that most of Ukraine “remains calm” but “some tensions” continue in Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

“The situation in the Luhansk and especially the Donetsk regions was tense with no significant signs of de-escalation.”

OSCE also reported pro-federalization peaceful rallies in Kharkiv and in the city of Izium, approximately 40 km north of Sloviansk. The activists, the mission noted, “called for transforming Ukraine into a federal state” while expressing dissatisfaction with the presence of “Ukrainian armed forces participating in the 'counter-terrorist' operations in the Donetsk region.”

In Luhansk the Special Monitoring Mission was approached several times “by people expressing their concern with regard to the status of the Russian language, lack of attention from the Kiev government towards the situation in the region as well as an alleged misinformation campaign portraying the occupants of the building as separatists.”

20:44 GMT:
The anti-terrorist center within the Ukrainian Security Service warns that unless pro-federalization activists lay down arms in Donetsk and Lugansk regions, law enforcement officers will apply all available means to restore order, the SBU said on its website.

The agency says that disarming regional militias is proscribed by last week's Geneva roadmap, claiming that thus far pro-federalization forces have not laid down their weapons.

“The police will use all the power, means and opportunities to end the criminal acts and to restore law and public safety,” SBU statement reads.

20:13 GMT:
Miners in Lugansk region are refusing to pay a 10 percent tax on their salaries, imposed by the post-coup authorities to restore the Maidan square in Kiev. The square and nearby buildings suffered significant damage during months of rallies and the violent standoff that led to a coup in February. More than 80 percent of Lugansk region's miners have staged protests for a second day running and have halted production at 5 coal mines.

According to local media reports miners have seen a 10 percent cut in their paychecks to restore the Ukrainian capital.

“I don't understand why are we involved!” one of the protesting miners, Stanislav Denisenko told Ria Novosti. “It was not us who dismantled the stones and burned the houses down. I get about 900 hryvna a month, that is around 9,000 rubles ($260). I don't understand why they are taking away my salary.”

18:01 GMT:
The UK reportedly scrambled several fighter jets to see off two Russian military aircraft in the international airspace near the north of Scotland, Reuters said citing UK Defense Ministry and local media. The aircraft, identified as two Russian Tupolev Tu-95 strategic bombers (NATO reporting name “Bear”), turned away and flew toward Scandinavia after being contacted by the British jets, the reports said.

Thursday, April 24
10:57 GMT:
The ongoing crisis in Slavyansk and Mariupol is the result of irresponsible policy by Kiev authorities supported by neo-Nazi groups, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

Russian authorities have no doubt that the US can and should make Kiev start the de-escalation of the situation in eastern Ukraine, he added.
10:52 GMT:
Russia’s envoy to the OSCE, Andrey Kelin, has called on the organization to immediately send international observers to the eastern Ukrainian town of Slavyansk, which is being besieged by troops loyal to Kiev. He has dubbed the military action of the government in Kiev the “most howling violation of Geneva agreements.” According to the Geneva accords reached in 4-way talks between Russia, the US, the EU and Ukraine, the repudiation of violence is the main condition to peace in Ukraine. “Violent provocations and intimidations are under way right now in Slavyansk and Mariupol,” Kelin said, warning that the situation in Slavyansk could spiral out of control at any time.

10:33 GMT:
Militia reinforcements from the town of Krasny Liman who arrived in Slavyansk today have taken part in the action to repel an attack of pro-Kiev government troops. The armed levy is currently checking the woodland near the city to make sure there are no snipers or Ukrainian troops operating there.

10:18 GMT:
As a result of the attack by Ukrainian troops on Slavyansk, three defenders of the town have been shot dead at a checkpoint leading out of the town on the highway to Kharkov, which has been captured by Ukrainian troops. Journalists present at the checkpoint have not been injured. www.youtube.com...
09:58 GMT:
Self-defense of Slavyansk has returned the key checkpoint on the main entrance to the city, forcing three armored vehicles of Ukrainian troops to retreat. The checkpoint is situated a mere 3km from the central square of the city and, if captured, opens way to direct attack of the government headquarters currently captured by the anti-Kiev protesters.

09:54 GMT:
Citizens of Slavyansk have been told to stay at home, popular mayor of the city Vyacheslav Ponomarev told Rossiya 24 TV.
“Everybody has been warned. If necessary, we’re ready to start mass evacuation of the citizens,” he said.

rt.com...
12:47 GMT:
Unidentified gunmen have injured a woman, firing at a house in Slavyansk after introducing themselves as members of the Right Sector radical group, the Ukrainian Interior Ministry’s Donetsk region department says.
“Today in Slavyansk unidentified men have entered a house, claimed that they are members of the Right Sector and went on a shooting spree,” the department’s deputy head, Andrey Anosov, said.
According to the official, a man tried to shield a woman from the gunmen but she nevertheless received a gunshot wound in the chest. The woman has been taken to hospital.
12:15 GMT:
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Kiev of a deterioration of relations because of the military operation against the protesters in Slavyansk. “If these people [in Kiev] have opted for a hot stage, which in fact is a counterinsurgency operation, it will definitely have certain consequences for those who make such decisions, state-to-state relations included,” said Putin at a media forum of the All-Russian People’s Front.
The president said that only the Ukrainian parliament has “elements” of legitimacy, whereas other branches of the current authorities in Ukraine are not legitimate for various reasons.
“Given what they have done today, the authorities in Kiev have become a junta, a kind of cabal, so to say,” Putin said.

11:55 GMT:
Stepan Chirich, a producer for Russia’s NTV channel, has disappeared in Ukraine. He was working on a new program for Central Television.
On Tuesday a group headed by Stepan Chirich went to a small town of Pershotravinsk, Dnepropetrovsk Region, to film a story about protestant priest Bob Larson visiting Ukraine. On Wednesday morning the group stopped answering phone calls.
In the meantime, Ukrainian law enforcement reports that a group of “Russian spies” pretending to be journalists and using Belarusian passports as a cover up has been detained in Ukraine. Chirich is a citizen of Belarus, so the two pieces of news could be connected, believes the administration of NTV channel.

“We do believe that this is a result of terrible misunderstanding and hope that within the nearest future our colleagues will be able to return home,” said Central Television anchor Vadim Tokmenev.
11:53 GMT
Anti-government activists in Donetsk say they are ready to vacate two floors of the regional government administrative building to prepare and conduct a referendum on the federalization of Ukraine and state affiliation of the Donetsk region.

The region’s government headquarters was taken over by the anti-Kiev protesters on April 6, and the next day the Donetsk People’s Republic was proclaimed. The leaders of the protesters said they do not recognize the coup-imposed government in Kiev and the governor appointed by this government, oligarch Sergey Taruta. The date for the federalization referendum has been set for May 11.

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Pepe Escobar on Ukraine's effects on pipelines and geopolitics

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17:00 GMT:
American reporter Simon Ostrovsky, detained by anti-government activists in Slavyansk on Tuesday, has been freed, CBC journalist Jean-Francois Belanger has confirmed. According to Belanger, Ostrovsky is now with the CBC crew en route to Donetsk.
16:48 GMT
Right Sector radicals have blockaded an administrative building in the western Ukrainian city of Kolomyya to protest the appointment of the new local administration head, picked by the coup-imposed acting Ukrainian president Aleksandr Turchinov, local media reports. The Right Sector and local self-defense say there should not be any city official named until popular elections. The city administration officials say they have not been able to continue their work and warn that the blockade of the building will affect the life of local residents.
16:05 GMT:
Donetsk city activists who have been gathering food and medicine as humanitarian aid for Slavyansk say they are unable to deliver the aid as “all the roads are blocked,” RIA Novosti reports.
15:57 GMT:
A Ukrainian military helicopter has dropped a pile of leaflets over Slavyansk, offering locals a“survival guide” against “Russian terrorists.” The leaflet claims that those calling for the federalization of the country are “agitators… paid 1,000 hryvnas ($88) a day.”
15:23 GMT:
The coup-imposed Ukrainian acting president, Aleksandr Turchinov, has demanded that Russia pull back its troops back from the Ukrainian border, calling the ongoing Russian military exercises“blackmail.” In a brief address, Turchinov claimed that “terrorists have crossed the border… taking hostages and killing the patriots of Ukraine.” He also called for the Russian government “to stop interfering into the internal affairs of our country.”

19:12 GMT:

Ukrainian forces must respect international standards on use of force, Amnesty International said on its website responding to reports of fatal shootings of anti-government activists at several checkpoints in Slavyansk.

“International standards on the use of force and firearms are clear – law enforcement officials should resort to the use of firearms only in defence against an imminent threat of death or serious injury. They should apply other non-violent means before resorting to the use of force, and the use of firearms must always be the last resort. When the use of force and firearms is unavoidable they must exercise restraint and take steps to minimize damage and injury and preserve life,” Heather McGill, Ukraine Researcher at Amnesty International, has said.

Amnesty stressed that “an independent, impartial investigation should be launched into the events leading up to today’s reported loss of life at checkpoints around Slavyansk,” adding that “if it is found the Ukrainian forces violated international standards and resorted to arbitrary or abusive use of force, they must be brought to justice.”

Blasting the seizure of public buildings and detaining of foreign journalists by the local “pro-Russian armed group” as “human rights abuse,” the Amnesty added that “this must not be met with human rights violations by Ukrainian security forces.”

18:49 GMT:
Russian senators have drafted a proposal to send a “peacekeeping contingent” to southeast Ukraine to avoid bloodshed in the region, Izvestiya reports, citing Federation Council member Valery Shnyakin.

Shnyakin, who is the deputy chair of the council’s international committee, said that all countries interested in the peaceful resolution of the Ukrainian crisis should take part in talks on the proposed peacekeeping force.

“We must urgently put Russia, the US, the EU and Ukraine at the negotiation table and negotiate deploying a peacekeeping contingent to the southeast [of Ukraine]. We are now drafting this proposal and it will be brought up for discussion at the Federation Council session on April 29, and in case the situation escalates even more, it could happen earlier,” Shnyakin was quoted as saying.

18:34 GMT:
The German government has frozen military exports to Russia in connection with the situation in Ukraine, Germany’s Economy Ministry reportedly said in response to a request of the opposition Greens party.

According to German media, 69 export requests worth 5.18 million euro ($7.16 million) have been blocked.

“Because of the current political circumstances, no export licenses for defense goods for Russia are being granted. Furthermore, Germany has launched a study into what can be done about export licenses previously granted,” the ministry replied to the Greens’ request, Reuters reported.

17:51 GMT:
War in eastern Ukraine must be prevented “at all costs,” Itar-Tass reported UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon as saying.
Ban’s spokesman told journalists that all sides involved in the conflict in Ukraine must stick to the Geneva agreements of April 17, refrain from violence, repression and provocative actions.

Saying that he is “deeply concerned that the situation could quickly spin out of control with unpredictable consequences,” the UN secretary-general said that “military action must be avoided at all costs.”

17:42 GMT:
The actions of the Kiev authorities in eastern Ukraine make the legitimacy of the upcoming Ukrainian early elections “questionable,” Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told journalists Thursday.

“The way the situation is developing in Ukraine, such criminal actions ordered by those in Kiev, they a priori put the legitimacy of the elections set for May under a serious question mark,” Peskov said.

17:32 GMT:
National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (SNBO) officials say the military operation in eastern Ukraine will continue “in stages.”
“The anti-terrorist operation will continue. It will be carried out in several stages. We cannot unveil these stages. Today one of those active stages took place. It fulfilled its objective,” deputy secretary of the SNBO, Victoria Syumar, told Hromadske TV on Thursday

a reply to: the2ofusr1

Thank you for your continual posting of the news in here.

Much appreciated!

a reply to: SurrenderingAmerica Thanks for the encouragement .I wasn't sure if anyone was following . o be honest it keeps me up on the situation there and give a kind of history to some of it ...peace

21:39 GMT:
US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has said that “reports of military activity” near the Russian-Ukrainian border are worrisome. Earlier on Thursday Russia began extensive military exercises near the Ukrainian border following the escalation of violence in eastern Ukraine.

“This is dangerously destabilizing and it's very provocative. It does not de-escalate. In fact these activities escalate. They make it more difficult to try to find a diplomatic, peaceful resolution to that issue," Hagel said, adding that he was trying to arrange a phone call with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu.

20:36 GMT:
Washington should force the current Kiev leadership to “immediately” stop military operations in the south-east of the country, the Russian Foreign Ministry says.

“We hope the US will finally take urgent measures in the interests of de-escalation of the situation in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva Declaration of April 17. Washington should force the current Ukrainian leadership to immediately stop military operations in the south-east, to ensure withdrawal of Ukraine’s armed force units and security forces to their permanent deployment locations.”

“We hope that Washington understands the entire extent of their responsibility for the events,” noted the Russian Foreign Ministry.

Friday, April 25

10:31 GMT:
Ukrainian troops are carrying out a “second stage” of the military operation in eastern Ukraine, aiming at isolating the city of Slavyansk, according to Sergey Pashinsky, the interim head of the presidential administration appointed by Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada (parliament).

“The goal is to completely blockade Slavyansk, to localize the problem. The operation is being carried out at this moment,” he said.
10:14 GMT:
Ukrainian Interior Ministry officials said no causalities have yet been reported and they suspect that militants set off the blasts. However, reports from eyewitnesses contradict the Interior Ministry’s statements, claiming the blast went off while Ukrainian soldiers were loading ammunition onto a helicopter and at least three people died.

10:06 GMT:
Several large explosions have rocked an airfield in the southeastern city of Kramatorsk. A video uploaded onto YouTube shows smoke rising from the airfield and a second large explosion detonating.
www.youtube.com...

15:17 GMT:
All the sides of the Ukrainian conflict must “immediately” de-escalate the situation in eastern Ukraine, the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Anne Brasseur, has said in a statement posted on the PACE website.

“I am extremely concerned by the information coming from Ukraine about the resumption of violence, including in the city of Sloviansk. I call on all sides to urgently de-escalate the situation and end all violent or provocative actions and return to what was agreed in Geneva, particularly as regards the disarmament of illegal armed groups currently active in Ukraine,” Brasseur said in the statement.

15:09 GMT:
Lugansk people’s governor Valery Bolotov has addressed the people of the eastern Ukrainian region with a statement, saying that he is prepared to “give my own life for the prosperity of the native region without a qualm.”

The people of Lugansk will be able to see positive changes “in a week’s time,” he said, adding that his team is doing “hard, routine work” together with experts in law, politics and economy, and not just concentrating on the field of security and “military actions.”

Bolotov was elected a "people’s governor" of Lugansk at a rally Monday near the city’s Ukrainian Security Service building, which has been occupied by anti-government activists
13:41 GMT:

Ukrainian armed forces have set up a military base some 20 kilometers from Slavayansk, RT's stringer, Ukraine-based British journalist Graham Phillipsreports. According to Phillips, there is an ongoing buildup of troops in the area and “snipers hiding in forests in position.” The city is being encircled, he says.

13:32 GMT:
Kiev says it has lost contact with the OSCE mission working in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, RIA Novosti reports.

“We have received information that in the Donetsk region the contact has been lost with the members of the military OSCE mission, which is now in Ukraine in accordance with the Vienna document,” Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Evgeny Perebiynis was quoted as saying.
According to the ministry, the German-led group of OSCE observers has been working in southeast Ukraine since April 21.
12:54 GMT:
The leader of the ultra-nationalist Right Sector group, Dmitry Yarosh, whom Russia placed on an international most-wanted terrorist list, has written a letter to acting President Aleksandr Turchinov demanding Ukrainian that citizens be armed.
“Ukrainian authorities must immediately start massive arming of our citizens, in particular volunteer patriotic squads, which in the Dnepropetrovsk Region alone have seen 10,000 Ukrainians enlisted,” Yarosh wrote according to the Right Sector press service, cited by UNIAN.

12:28 GMT:
The International Criminal Court has opened a preliminary investigation into alleged crimes committed during the deadly protests that led to the ouster of President Victor Yanukovich on February 22. Kiev’s coup-appointed government claims Yanukovich’s troops killed more than 100 protesters during the unrest.

16:56 GMT:
The OSCE Representative on Freedom of the Media, Dunja Mijatović has expressed concern over the disappearance of two journalists for Russian news outlet, LifeNews.

“I am very concerned by repeated attacks and disappearances of journalists. Journalists must be allowed to report freely and their safety ensured by all those in charge,” she said, as cited by the OSCE website.

The Representative on the Freedom of the Media sent a letter to Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov requesting information on the case.

Speaking the same day to Russian Ekho Moskvy radio station, she noted that “any journalist” is potentially dangerous for “those who consider themselves authorities” in Eastern Ukraine.

“Foreign and Ukrainian journalists who are not seen as loyal in Eastern Ukraine – are the first target,” Mijatović said. “Everyone is under threat: cameramen, photographers, TV journalists.”

16:55 GMT:
Russia's foreign minister told his German counterpart on Friday that all violence in Ukraine must be halted, "primarily the use of the (Ukrainian) army and armed radical nationalists in southeastern Ukraine," the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

It said that in a telephone conversation, Russia's Sergey Lavrov and Germany's Frank-Walter Steinmeier agreed that an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe mission should play an active role in efforts to defuse tension in Ukraine. (Reuters)

15:35 GMT:
Washington has accused Moscow of escalating tensions in eastern Ukraine, threatening to “impose costs” on Russia in a new wave of “targeted sanctions.”

The White House statement follows US President Barack Obama’s conference call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande, Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi and British Prime Minister David Cameron, in which they “agreed to work closely together, and through the G7 and European Union, to coordinate additional steps to impose costs on Russia.”

“The leaders underscored that Russia could still choose a peaceful resolution to the crisis, including by implementing the Geneva accord,” the statement added.
Fake NYT photos www.informationclearinghouse.info...

Saturday, April 26
www.youtube.com...
09:10 GMT:

A convoy of six Ukrainian APCs is approaching the village of Krestishche, situated some 15 kilometers northwest of the rebel town of Slavyansk in the Donetsk region, RIA Novosti reports. An eyewitness told the agency that men dressed in the black uniform of Ukraine’s National Guards are riding on top of the armored vehicles, which are displaying Ukrainian flags. The village, with a population of over 1,000 people, remains under the control of anti-government protesters. On April 24, Ukraine’s law enforcement agencies sprayed gunfire at a checkpoint of federalization supporters in Krestishche, killing a 22-year-old unarmed man and heavily wounding another one.

Ukrainian troops taking part in the military operation against the rebellion in the Donetsk region are stationed in the town of Svyatogorsk, 10 kilometers from Krestishche.

08:00 GMT:

The Slavyansk self-defense forces will not immediately release the foreign military observers who they detained Friday, they announced to the media. At the moment the militia considers the officers NATO spies.

A group of 12 foreign military observers and Ukrainian military guides was touring eastern Ukraine under the Vienna document, an international agreement that regulates inspections of military objects by members of the OSCE. There were acting and former officers from Denmark, Poland, Germany, Bulgaria and the Czech Republic in the mission.

07:30 GMT:

The Ukrainian parliament may scrap presidential elections by popular vote in favor of giving MPs the privilege of electing the head of state, the leader of the Batkivshchina (Fatherland) party, Yulia Tymoshenko, said.

“All the oligarchic representatives are now in the parliament, and now there is a discussion on giving the election to the parliament, of taking the public vote from the people, to take all authority from the president, including declarative right, and give it all to the parliament,” she said Friday on “Shuster Live,” Ukraine’s top political talk show.

In her TV appearance the former Ukrainian prime minister and presidential hopeful was focusing her fire on an alleged oligarchic plot to grab power. She was also criticizing her prime competitor, billionaire Petr Poroshenko, for failing to appear at the show for debate in favor of a meeting with another wealthy Ukrainian businessman, Dmitry Firtash.

If the Ukrainian parliament did take the authority to elect the president, this would likely raise Tymoshenko’s chances for election. Opinion polls show her far behind Poroshenko, but in the parliament Batkivshchina has a strong faction.

The party also has strong influence on the government, since acting President Aleksandr Turchinov (who is also the parliament speaker), acting Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk and most acting ministers come from Batkivshchina’s ranks.

05:54 GMT:

A journalist from the western Ukrainian city of Lvov was reportedly detained in protester-held Slavyansk on Friday evening. Yury Lelyavsky, a stringer for ZIK TV channel, was detained after protesters suspected that he could be preparing a provocation.

This adds to a long list of similar incidents in turbulent Ukraine, where media professionals working for both Ukrainian and Russian outlets have been subjected to detentions and questioning by anti-government protesters or Kiev authorities in the past weeks.

05:40 GMT:

A self-defense militia checkpoint near Slavyansk was shot at Friday night, Ukrainian anti-government protesters told RIA Novosti. Unidentified gunmen shot a dozen times and protesters manning the checkpoint in the Slavkurort area on a highway connecting Russian Rostov and Ukrainian Kharkov. Nobody was injured in the incident.

05:37 GMT:

The leaders of the G7 have agreed on a new set of sanctions targeting Russian officials over the crisis in Ukraine. The punitive measures are set to come into effect on Monday to ensure “the opportunity for a successful and peaceful democratic vote next month in Ukraine's presidential elections.”

01:00 GMT:

As a sign of “good will,” local authorities in Donetsk have released a number of Right Sector fighters upon a request from Ukrainian presidential candidate Oleg Tsarev. The undisclosed number of fighters were detained for being involved in hooliganism at the Donetsk Administrative building.

“They have not killed or raped anyone. We don't consider them enemies,” Tsarev said, as quoted by Itar-Tass. “I am sure that most of those who arrive in the south-east [of Ukraine], including punitive units, are people who were deceived.”

At the same time, Tsarev noted that the authorities in Kiev had detained more than 200 activists from the south-east of Ukraine, adding that since the coup “repressions” had reached a historical scale not witnessed since Ukraine became independent in 1991.

The presidential candidate urged Kiev to release more than 70 people “detained in Kharkov, where arrests continue” as well as Donetsk and Odessa, in order to implement the Geneva accords.

15:53 GMT:
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and Kiev authorities have agreed on a visit to the “people’s mayor of Donetsk” Pavel Gubarev, who has been under arrest since early March, Itar-Tass reports, citing a spokesperson for the ICRC.

Under the agreement, OSCE employees who are currently in Ukraine will visit the detained anti-government activist at around 18:00 Kiev time (15:00 GMT).

On Friday, Gubarev announced a hunger strike against Kiev’s crackdown on protesters in Slavyansk, eastern Ukraine. Moscow, which considers Gubarev a political prisoner, has repeatedly voiced concerns about his fate, particularly after the Foreign Ministry received information that he might be seriously ill

00:12 GMT:
Georgian nationalists are being recruited to fight the pro-federalization forces in Ukraine, Izvestia newspaper reports, citing a source in the Georgian parliament.

The recruitment is reportedly being carried out by the former chief bodyguard of the first Georgian president Zviad Gamsakhurdia, and is focused on youth, the report suggests.

They recruit mostly youth, who have not yet decided on their political preferences, or those who hate Russia, or close to the radical groups and gangs, the source said.

Financing of recruits is being carried out by the 'Open Zone' movement and United National Movement Party, that were empowered during President Saakashvili's term and never hid their negative attitude towards Russia, another source told the publication.

Saturday, April 26
22:23 GMT:
Reports emerge that in Gorlovka, a city of around 300,000 people in Donetsk region, three Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) “Alpha” unit special forces fighters have been detained by pro-federalization forces.

a reply to: the2ofusr1

Saturday, April 26
22:23 GMT:
Reports emerge that in Gorlovka, a city of around 300,000 people in Donetsk region, three Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) “Alpha” unit special forces fighters have been detained by pro-federalization forces.

Been following your updates. Finally get a chance to add something:

Three Ukraine elite Alpha group agents captured in Donetsk region