Russia declares war on Ukraine. Live updates from inside Ukraine

Heres an article on the vice news reporter Simon Ostrovsky arrest, detainment or kidnapping whatever you want to call it.

thelede.blogs.nytimes.com...

RT @RT_com BREAKING: Kiev must immediately deescalate east #Ukraine crisis, call back troops - Moscow on.rt.com/ymnb89 16 mins ago 41 retweets | 5 replies

Breaking News @BreakingNews Russian military conducts military exercise in Rostov region bordering Ukraine, defense official says - @Reuters breakingnews.com/t/NCb 11 mins ago 38 retweets | 4 replies

Dont know what happened all of a sudden that got the Russians all worked up!

Mukha Kaloev @Mukha_Kaloev Reports: mutiny in Ukraine's 93rd Infantry Brigade following orders to suppress East Ukraine scoop.it/t/global-polit… 21 mins ago 4 retweets | 1 replies

Russian tweets claiming detention of Right sector commandos in Slavyansk.

a reply to: asen_y2k

I saw earlier a couple of videos that seemed to take place in a army camp, with tents and all, Ukrainian, from what I could understand, where 2 groups of soldiers seemed to quarrel with one another. I think they are in relation with this news piece.
Will post them as soon as I find them.

LE: These are the videos, can you provide an approximate translation, please ?

Here is a link to a tweet/video claiming a convoy of Russian special forces inside Ukrainian territory. They refused to show id and did not say which country's soldiers they are.

Very interesting.

a reply to: asen_y2k

The one in Melitopol. I was just about to post it myself. I'll just embed it here.

ukranews.com...

Ministry of Foreign Affairs states to ban the teaching of the Ukrainian language in Crimea.
This was at the briefing said the director of information policy MFA Yevhen Perebiynis .

The diplomat said that despite the propaganda statements of the Russian leadership over the rights of the Crimean Tatars and Ukrainians , performed system policy , which aims to eradicate Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar culture.

" In the Ukrainian schools prohibited the teaching of Ukrainian language and literature , teachers are forced to resign ," - said Perebiynis .

However, he said that the Crimean Tatars faced with threats of deportation and become objects of repeated attacks , because they refuse to take Russian citizenship and speak the native language .

It was reported that 59.5 % of respondents Ukrainian Centre for Economic and Political Studies Alexander Razumkov and sociological group "Rating" in favor of Ukrainian as the only official language .

a reply to: Dutzy

They are talking in Russian and mostly about each others mothers. Nothing that I could clearly make out.

Updates on Simon Ostrovsky, it seems there were multiple journalists detained at the same time, including Simon Shuster, from TIME, but most were released, except Ostrovsky:
time.com...

Pro-Russian separatist militia members in eastern Ukraine detained TIME’s Berlin Correspondent and four other journalists on Monday evening in an incident that highlighted the increasing number of threats to journalists working in the region. Four of the journalists, including the TIME correspondent, Simon Shuster, were released after about an hour but an American reporter for New York-based VICE News, Simon Ostrovsky, remains in custody.

The journalists were traveling in a car in the separatist-held town of Slavyansk when they were stopped at a checkpoint by armed separatists, said Shuster, who is now in the city of Donetsk. Shuster, a Ukrainian photographer and a British photojournalist for VICE left Slavyansk the morning after their detention. A Russian photographer who was part of the group chose to stay in Slavyansk.

In a statement released on Tuesday, VICE News said it was “in contact with the U.S. State Department and other appropriate government authorities to secure the safety and security of our friend and colleague, Simon Ostrovsky.”

A State Department spokeswoman, Jen Psaki, said in a statement today: “We are deeply concerned about the reports of a kidnapping of a U.S. citizen journalist in Slovyansk [sic], Ukraine, reportedly at the hands of pro-Russian separatists. We condemn any such actions, and all recent hostage takings in eastern Ukraine, which directly violate commitments made in the Geneva joint statement. We call on Russia to use its influence with these groups to secure the immediate and safe release of all hostages in eastern Ukraine. We have also raised our concerns with Ukrainian officials as they work with local authorities to try to de-escalate the security situation in and around Slovyansk.”

Stella Khorosheva, a spokeswoman for the separatists in Slavyansk, told the Associated Press that Ostrovsky is “with us. He’s fine.” She said that the journalist was “suspected of bad activities” and is under investigation.

In recent days at least three other foreign journalists – two Italians and one Belarusian – have been detained by armed separatists, whose political goal appears to be either to secure independence in eastern Ukraine or to persuade Russia to annex that part of Ukraine. Insurgents in Slavyansk are also holding a Ukrainian journalist and activist named Irma Krat.

“We’re doing absolutely everything we can to win Simon’s release,” said Shuster. “The people who are holding him assure us that he has not been harmed, but refuse to say when they would release him.”

news.yahoo.com...

Reuters
1 hour ago

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday conducted military exercises in its south-eastern Rostov region, which borders Ukraine, a spokesman for Russia's southern military district said.

The spokesman declined to give details on the drills. However, Reuters Television footage from the exercises showed columns of military vehicles, including jeeps, armored personnel carriers, mobile multiple rocket launchers, and mobile surface-to-air missile launchers, driving in formation at a military aerodrome.

(Reporting by Alexei Anishchuk; Writing by Christian Lowe)

BREAKING #Svyatohirsk, #Donetsk Oblast, is freed during the anti-terror operation today. No victims. pravda.com.ua/news/2014/04/2… |EMPR #Ukraine

Details on Sviatgorosk:
www.gazeta.ru...

Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine declares that the law enforcers managed to establish control over the city Svyatogorsky located on the border of the Donetsk , Luhansk and Kharkiv regions . This is stated in a statement posted on the site office .

" Force special forces city Svjatogorsk released from illegal armed group of separatists . Siloviki , who participated in the anti-terrorist operation , replaced by illegal armed groups outside of the village. No casualties ", - explained in the department.

Meanwhile, the " People's Mayor " Vyacheslav Ponomarev Sloviansk denied information about the occupation svyatogorsk siloviki. On it informs "Interfax".

"We just got in touch with our teams in Sviatogorsk . No capture is not there, all is quiet , only one helicopter flying . We see this as a pressure on us from the Kiev authorities ", - he explained.

Latest from the Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine - based on information received up until 22 April 2014, 20:00 (Kyiv time)
www.osce.org...

Western, Central Ukraine, including Kiev, as well as many regions of the southern part of the country remained calm. In the regions neighbouring the Luhansk and Donetsk districts some tensions continued – they resulted either from the political polarization or fears of possible activities of armed opponents of the government. The situation in the Luhansk and especially the Donetsk regions was tense with no significant signs of de-escalation.

The general situation in the Kharkiv region remained calm despite a rally attended by around 200 people that took place in front of the city hall in Izium, approximately 40 km north of Sloviansk. The demonstrators called for transforming Ukraine into a federal state and protested against the presence of Ukrainian armed forces participating in the “counter-terrorist” operation in the Donetsk region.

The situation around the occupied SBU building in Luhansk did not change. 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 Kyiv government towards the situation in the region as well as an alleged misinformation campaign portraying the occupants of the building as separatists. According to the Deputy Governor of the Luhansk District, the absence of bloodshed in Luhansk since the takeover of the state security service (SBU) building was a result of the dialogue between the authorities and persons occupying the building. The interlocutor assessed the situation in the region as calm in rural areas and tense in local industrial centres such as Krasny Luch, Severodonetsk and Rubizhne.

The overall security situation in the city of Donetsk and in the district remained tense. Occupation of state institutions continues. According to the Donetsk Governor, the armed groups were difficult to negotiate with – they have no leader, no coherent point of view or set of demands. He considered that the support for separatists by the local population was decreasing. The Special Monitoring Mission, accompanied by high-ranking local Ukrainian officials, also met with representatives of the separatist groups who stated that the differences in opinions and political views among opposing groups are impossible to overcome. The occupiers noted that the Government of Ukraine’s view that the Geneva statement did not apply to the Maidan deepened the crisis, and only a 'civilized divorce' was therefore possible as a political solution. The occupiers claimed not to have obstructed the delivery of the city's administrative services during their occupation of the administration buildings.

The Special Monitoring Mission also met the Mayor of Mariupol, who said that around 100 armed men were occupying the city administration building. According to the Mayor, the protesters understood the fact that the occupation of the local administration buildings significantly hampered the administration in fulfilling its basic functions towards the local population. According to the representatives of the Mariupol Prosecutor’s Office and penitentiary authorities, five remain in custody as suspects following the attack on the military installation in Mariupol.

The team also visited Kramatorsk, where eight men dressed in black and wearing masks were observed in front of the local police building. Police officers seemed to have free access to the building. According to the Chief of Kramatorsk police, the police continued their routine activities. In the town, the city administration building was found to be barricaded with tires and scrap metal; the barricades were manned by approximately 14 people, including women. The group controlled the access to the building. A small number of civil servants and other citizens were observed to be able to enter the building freely. The flags of the Donetsk Republic and the Russian Federation were observed at the top of the same building.

In Dnepropetrovsk the general situation remained calm, despite a number of public events organized in the city throughout the day. The Special Monitoring Mission was provided with a list of nine roadblocks in the Dnepropetrovsk region and visited four of them. The checkpoints were constructed only recently and were manned by both the police and paramilitary National Defence personnel. According to one of the latter’s representatives, the National Defence headquarters has set up a monitoring and controlling system and a network of roadblocks built on roads leading to Donetsk, Kharkiv and Luhansk. They were also working on setting up a similar network of roadblocks to the East and South of Dnepropetrovsk.

In the Kherson region the general situation remained calm. The team met with the First Deputy Mayor of Skadovsk and the First Deputy Head of the Regional Administration, who informed the team about the current situation in the region with regard to persons migrating from the Crimean Peninsula. Despite extensive preparations conducted by the local administration to receive persons requiring assistance, no one requested help from the administration; according to interlocutors it might be that migrating persons had decided to go further in-country or stay with extended family or friends elsewhere in Ukraine. The Special Monitoring Mission also met with the First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Kherson district. According to him, damage had been done to signs and doors of their premises; furthermore, people had disrupted their political rallies, making numerous threats and calling them ‘separatists’.

The general situation in Odessa remained calm. A high-ranking official from the District Administration asserted to the team that he had not received any information about armed separatists being present in the region.

The situation in the western Ukrainian cities of Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv as well as in Kyiv was calm. The team visited the Maidan and entered the city administration building to follow up on the progress of refurbishment work being done in the building; according to the team, work in five of the 11 floors is about to be finished and the building is partially operational.

Retweeted by US Mission to NATO
German Marshall Fund ‏@gmfus · 7m
.@Danbbaer: the responsibility for Russia's actions lie with Russia #natogmf

Sky News Newsdesk ‏@SkyNewsBreak · 4m
RAF Typhoon scrambled after two Russian planes strayed close to UK airspace off north east Scotland this afternoon

Sky News ‏@SkyNews · 16m
Russian Planes Chased Away From UK By RAF Jet news.sky.com... …

RT ‏@RT_com · 4m
WATCH LIVE: Russian FM Sergey Lavrov speaks to RT's @SophieCo on Ukraine, Russia rt.com... pic.twitter.com/GRrQoTvrBv

The Moscow Times ‏@MoscowTimes · 10m
#Russia Drills Troops Near Ukraine Border tmt-go.ru... #news

The Moscow Times ‏@MoscowTimes · 12m
German-French Alliance Visits Moldova, Georgia tmt-go.ru... #news

GermanForeignOffice ‏@GermanyDiplo · 26m
FM #Steinmeier in #Chisinau: #Moldova can depend on partnership with the #EU. Eastern Partnership is not directed against anyone. 1/2

GermanForeignOffice ‏@GermanyDiplo · 25m
FM #Steinmeier cont'd: Our message is clear: An Association Agreement between the #EU + #Moldova will be signed soon. 2/2

Euromaidan PR ‏@EuromaidanPR · 35m
Memory Eternal to another hero of #Ukraine - Horlivka councilman Rybak! He was abducted by 4 pro-#Russia terrorists pic.twitter.com/XetDvenbpT

Sky News Newsdesk ‏@SkyNewsBreak · 4m RAF Typhoon scrambled after two Russian planes strayed close to UK airspace off north east Scotland this afternoon

a reply to: Xcathdra

I remember reading in the past couple of days that even Japan had to scramble jets, because of Russian planes flying very close to their airspace...

originally posted by: Dutzy

Sky News Newsdesk ‏@SkyNewsBreak · 4m RAF Typhoon scrambled after two Russian planes strayed close to UK airspace off north east Scotland this afternoon

a reply to: Xcathdra

I remember reading in the past couple of days that even Japan had to scramble jets, because of Russian planes flying very close to their airspace...

Its been occurring with more frequency over the last year or two. It used to be a normal occurrence during the cold war.. Apparently Russia missed doing them.

Just had the Sky News Breaking News thingy flash up on my iPad.

What are Russian spy planes doing so close to the UK? I'm sure I read an article that mentioned some Russian politicians 'jokingly' talked about annexing Scotland. Those planes were lucky they weren't shot down. Russia have already said today they will protect their interests in Ukraine so right now I think it's fair to say all sides are gearing up for military warfare.

originally posted by: ProfessorT
Just had the Sky News Breaking News thingy flash up on my iPad.

What are Russian spy planes doing so close to the UK? I'm sure I read an article that mentioned some Russian politicians 'jokingly' talked about annexing Scotland. Those planes were lucky they weren't shot down. Russia have already said today they will protect their interests in Ukraine so right now I think it's fair to say all sides are gearing up for military warfare.

They have been running those flights quite a bit over the last month or 2. Turkey in addition to Romania / Bulgaria have had Russian surveillance aircraft skirt their borders.

nothing new to be honest.

I still think Russia should get smacked for violating the open skies agreement for surveillance aircraft.