US/NATO/EU and the desperate subversion of Ukraine

[John Dolva]

Tuesday, May 20

19:01 GMT:

The National Guard shelled a self-defense check point on the Kharkov-Donetsk road near the Semenovka settlement in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, Itar-tass reported. Several taxi cabs have been damaged. A shop near the scene caught fire. No civilian casualties were reported. Russian TV channel Ren-TV crew headed by Pavel Obuhov witnessed the scene.

16:39 GMT:

Self-defense forces arrived in downtown Donetsk Tuesday, occupying a central square without a struggle. Men armed with AK-74 assault rifles and an Armoured Personnel Carrier (APC) were seen, though traffic was unaffected.

[John Dolva]

Prensa Latina en pge not there again

Suministro fiable de gas a Ucrania depende de sí misma

Moscú, 20 may (PL) El suministro de gas a Europa depende de una transportación fiable de Ucrania y del cumplimiento estricto de sus obligaciones, advirtió hoy el primer ministro de Rusia, Dmitri Medvédev, tras ratificar los compromisos de su país como proveedor.(RadioPL )

• Tropas rusas inician retirada de fronteras con Ucrania
• Rusia no reconoce legitimidad de comicios presidenciales en Ucrania
• EE.UU. avanza a nueva guerra fría con Rusia, afirma Medvédev
• Rusia reitera demanda de liberación de periodistas en Ucrania
• Rusia insta a reunión urgente con OTAN sobre Ucrania

[John Dolva]

The junta has abducted journalists covering the war on the peoples movements.

[John Dolva]

RT :

Kiev national guard has detained earlier journalists of Russian TV channel LifeNews Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko near the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. Last time they go on the line in the afternoon on Sunday, May 18. Kiev accuses Russian journalists of abetment to terrorism. Meanwhile, the Russian Embassy does not have any official information about the fate of detainees yet. On May 20, a British stringer co-operating with Russia Today TV channel was detained in Ukraine.

[meanwhile the junta is creating a new propaganda machine.]

[John Dolva]

MOSCOW, May 20 (RIA Novosti) – The population of southeastern Ukraine does not trust Kiev’s current authorities as there is nobody who protects their interests in the country’s capital, Evgeniy Kopatko, a Ukrainian sociologist and director of Research and Branding Group, told RIA Novosti Tuesday.

“Why doesn’t the southeast listen to the new authorities? Because there is not a single trustworthy representative of this region in Kiev. And people understand that nobody will protect their interests in the capital,” Kopatko said.

According to the expert, the lack of a candidate from the Russian-speaking southeast region in the presidential race is an unprecedented situation in the history of Ukraine.

“The main distinction of the upcoming elections is that a representative from the southeast does not have any real chance to equally participate in the presidential campaign,” Kopatko noted.

Last month, Oleh Tsarev, a Ukrainian presidential candidate and an active pro-federalization supporter, announced that he had withdrawn from the race after being beaten and threatened by nationalist radicals.

Tsarev claimed that Ukrainian authorities deprived him of the opportunity “to carry the voice of the southeast” to the citizens of the rest of country. The car of another presidential candidate, Mikhail Dobkin, was later attacked in Kiev.

[John Dolva]

Wednesday, May 21

05:57 GMT:

Russia’s LifeNews has sent an official address to the US State Department confirming that Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko, detained by Ukrainian troops, are genuine journalists, employed with the media outlet. The address says the reporters’ colleagues were taken aback by doubts voiced by US State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki, who called into question “whether [sidyakin and Saichenko] were actually journalists.”

The letter from LifeNews details the two reporters’ professional records.

“Facts that would prove the allegations by Ukrainian security services that the journalists came to Ukraine to ‘accompany terrorists’ have not yet been supplied,” the letter reads.

00:38 GMT:

Mayor of an eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk Gennady Kostyukov has scheduled an extraordinary session of the City Council on Friday to address his early resignation, the website of the city council said.

[John Dolva]

Ukrainian parliament's legitimacy can be questioned — view

World

May 21, 16:37 UTC+4

"Sooner or later, Kiev will have to negotiate," Ukrainian deputy Sergei Gorokhov underlined

MOSCOW, May 21. /ITAR-TASS/. A Ukrainian lawmaker on Wednesday said the legitimacy of the Ukrainian parliament can be doubted in the light of the latest events and the parliament's decisions.

Ukraine security council to create TV channel for ‘propaganda of new Ukraine values’

"The Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine's parliament) is the only legitimate body which lately has put its legitimacy in very big doubt," Ukrainian deputy Sergei Gorokhov said at a "round table" discussion at the State Duma lower house of Russia's parliament. Gorokhov represents Luhansk in the Ukrainian parliament.

"Deputies cannot vote as they see fit because of armed people near the parliament building. They cannot enter or exit through doors; many use underground passes to get into the session hall," Gorokhov said. "Expelling the whole faction (of Communists) from the session hall was the tipping point — such things had never ever happened before."

The parliamentarian drew attention to the referenda in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions, noting that "turnout was high as never before".

People turned up for voting, and Kiev cannot ignore the opinion of Luhansk and Donetsk. "Sooner or later, Kiev will have to negotiate," he underlined.

[John Dolva]

LUGANSK, May 22 /ITAR-TASS/. The government of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) is ready to sit down to the negotiating table with Kiev if the Ukrainian authorities terminate a punitive operation in Ukraine’s southeast, Valery Bolotov, the people’s governor of the eastern Ukrainian Lugansk Region, said.

“We demand that all armed formations be immediately withdrawn from the territory of the LPR,” Bolotov said in a statement on Wednesday. “We are ready for talks but only after Ukraine stops an aggression against our state.”

He called the special operation conducted by Kiev-controlled army units and armed formations in Ukraine's southeast occupation and “terror against the local population”.

Earlier Wednesday, Bolotov asked the LPR public to take an active part in forming supreme state power bodies in the republic - the Supreme Council and government, as well as in organizing people’s self-government bodies.

___

After residential neighborhoods of Slavyansk had come under fire, People’s Mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryv proposed to evacuate children from the city. According to Slavyansk militia, Ukrainian law enforces are building up forces near Slavyansk.

___

LUGANSK, May 22. /ITAR-TASS/. The eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk is getting ready for an assault by Ukraine’s National Guard units, the southeast headquarters report on Wednesday.

“A major military convoy is heading for Lugansk. It consists of about 2,000 military, about 200 units of hardware, Grad multiple launch rocket systems, APCs, infantry combat vehicles, tanks, as well as Ural and GAZ trucks,” a source from the headquarters said.

According to the headquarters, the convoy is now in the settlement Beloye, close to Lugansk. An assault may begin shortly, it said.

The commandant’s headquarters have circulated leaflets among the local residents, warning about a possible attack with the use of poisonous substances.

___

“The Kiev authorities do not even pretend that they are trying to keep to internationally recognised norms and rules, including the documents signed and accepted by Ukraine itself,” he said. “They actually do not recognise or implement a so-called ‘road map’ of the OSCE (the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe), which has been negotiated and put forward as a single document serving as a basis for the settlement of the situation.”

“Instead of this, the Kiev leadership has proposed its own ‘road map’ which is aimed not at negotiations but at violent suppression, and vacuous and stupid use of forces and heavy armaments against the civil population,” the deputy said.

“Sloviansk has become the only place in Europe in the 21st century where people have to hide in basements sheltering from permanent gunfire by Kiev’s military,” Pushkov said.

“All this is happening with the connivance of the US Administration, which deliberately ignores all these atrocities and human rights violations,” he said, adding that in doing so, the United States defied its own principles the country had declared over and over.

___

MOSCOW, May 21. /ITAR-TASS/.The Kiev authorities should stop use of force actions and seek ways for a real national consent, Russia’s Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.

“We have once again to draw attention to the fact that the Kiev authorities are not fulfilling the accords agreed in the Geneva statement of April 17 and further developed in the roadmap of the Swiss OSCE Chair,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Contrary to the obligation to refrain from any use of force actions, intimidations and provocations, Kiev has not only failed to halt but is stepping up its punitive operation against its own people and is subjecting cities in the east of the country to regular night fire, including from heavy armaments,” the statement said.

Kiev has also forgotten its obligation to immediately disarm illegal armed formations, especially militants of the radical Right Sector movement and other ultra-radicals, as well as various regional militant groups like the Dnepr unit and the National Guard whose legal basis is doubtful, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

“They are not being disarmed and, on the contrary, are being legalized and used along with foreign mercenaries in the punitive operation in the south-east,” the statement said.

The Kiev authorities are also not conducting an open, objective and transparent investigation into the February riots on the Maidan and the May bloody events in Odessa and Mariupol, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

___

Wednesday, May 21

20:06 GMT:

The US State Department’s position on journalists detained by Kiev’s forces - including RT's Graham Philips - has not progressed much since Tuesday's briefing which took place after two Life News journalists were detained in eastern Ukraine on Sunday.

“I just reiterate the fact that we call on Ukrainian authorities to investigate these incidents and to release these people if they’re legitimate journalists and not involved in illegal activities. Certainly, they are the appropriate – as the government of the country – they are the appropriate entity to do just that. So we’ll continue to encourage them to do that,” spokesperson Jen Psaki said response to a question by RT’s Gayane Chichakyan.

19:56 GMT:

Ukrainian military forces opened gun fire in the city centre of Slavyansk in the Donetsk region, RIA Novosti reports. After the previous night's shooting by Ukrainian militants several residential buildings were partly destroyed in Slavyansk and a woman with head injury was taken to hospital.

18:25 GMT:

The UN Security Council failed to support Russia’s proposal to the Secretary General to conduct an independent investigation of the Odessa massacre, Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin said after a closed UNSC session.

Dozens of people were killed in a fire at Odessa's Trade Unions House on May 2. Ukraine's Ministry of Internal Affairs has stated the fire was set by activists who occupied the building, while eye-witnesses and video footage indicate that Molotov cocktails were thrown into the house from the outside.

16:51 GMT:

Head of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People's Republic (LNR) promised Ukraine's presidential elections would be prevented in the region by any means. According to RIA Novosti, Valery Bolotov has said if the pro-Kiev forces are to arrange voting precincts, those will be attacked. He added that various documents and stamps for the upcoming vote were being delivered to the region, but anti-government activists had partly seized the consignment.

LNR's head also asked the region's locals not to take part in the election.

16:12 GMT:

Russian Foreign Ministry has accused the US of showing an “insincere care” about Russian lawyer Sergey Magnitsky, who died in pre-trial custody in Moscow in 2009, while Kiev is using artillery and armored vehicles against civilians.

15:19 GMT:

Kiev is reluctant to allow an OSCE mission to visit two detained journalists, Oleg Sidyakin and Marat Saichenko, working for Russia’s LifeNews TV channel, said Andrey Kelin, Russia's permanent representative to the organization.

“At our request, for two days the OSCE mission has been trying to get permission to visit the reporters, but the Kiev authorities refuse,” he said.

Russia will bring the question of the journalists’ rights violations to a discussion at an OSCE meeting on Thursday, Kelin said.

15:16 GMT:

No bilateral negotiations are possible between Ukraine and Russia at this stage, according to Ukraine's coup-appointed Prime Minister Arseny Yatsenyuk.

During the third round table of national unity held today in Nikolaev, southern Ukraine, Yatsenyuk spoke out in favor of a second meeting in "the Geneva format" with joint participation of Ukraine, Russia, USA and the EU.

He also accused Russia of destroying the European security system, Interfax-Ukraine reports.

15:04 GMT:

Kiev has failed to comply with the agreement on stopping violence in Ukraine, Russia's Foreign Ministry says.

Despite the document on de-escalation of the crisis adopted in Geneva on April 17, Kiev "consistently escalates its reprisal operation against its own people, and brings cities in the country's east under regular night fire," says the ministry's comment on the current situation in Ukraine.

It points out that no transparent investigations of February’s Maidan violence or May events in Odessa and Mariupol are being conducted. Moscow also accuses Kiev authorities of labeling all those who disagree with their actions as ‘terrorists’ and of persecuting journalists.

14:01 GMT:

Fifty percent of territorial election committees in the Lugansk Region have been disabled by anti-Kiev activists, according to Ukraine's Central Election Commission. Leaders of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Lugansk have previously ordered to close all election committees in the region, refusing to hold Ukrainian presidential elections and labeling them illegal.

The election is scheduled for May 25. So far six out of 12 committees in the area have been blocked.

13:44 GMT:

A draft constitution of the People's Republic of Lugansk has been published on social networks, Ukrainian National News reports. The document, which so far has 10 chapters and 86 articles, proclaims the Lugansk Republic a "democratic social state of law," with its territory being indivisible.

The source of power in the republic is its people, with the main expression of its will being a referendum and free elections.

"Seizure of power is unacceptable," it says. The draft also states that a human being with his/her rights and freedoms as being of supreme value.

12:34 GMT:

The Odessa massacre could be repeated if not investigated appropriately, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned. "A proper investigation must be conducted. The criminals must be found and punished," Putin told journalists. At least 48 people died in Odessa on May 2 after radicals set fire to the Trade Unions House.

[John Dolva]

Churkin: Russia is surprised as UN ignores shelling of Slavyansk

Russia

May 22, 7:07 UTC+4

UNITED NATIONS, May 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia is surprised at the absence of reaction from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to artillery shelling of the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk as well as to Kiev’s cutting off Crimea water supply, Russia’s UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin said on Wednesday.

He said this had been brought to the attention of UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic. He said the Russian side had got a rather surprising answer that the issue was being looked into. “It can be seen from any satellite that the water does not come in,” he said, adding that the UN had once again dodged its responsibility to give unbiased assessment of events. The same way it avoided condemning the artillery shelling of Slavyansk, also referring to a need to carry out an investigation, the ambassador noted.

He also said that a closed doors meeting of the Security Council on the situation with human rights had not supported Russia’s offer to appeal to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with a request to organize an independent probe into the tragic events in Ukraine’s Odessa on May 2.

The diplomat pledged that Russia would continue working towards that, and in particular, would hold consultations with the secretary general after he returned from China.

Churkin also said that at the session, Russia had brought up the issue of detained in Ukraine journalists of Russian LiveNews television as well as freelance journalist of RT television Graham Phillips. “And once again our western colleagues kept silent,” he said, adding that even the fellow countryman of the British reporter answered nothing to his question about what he was thinking about the arrest of a British subject.

He expressed regret over “the absence of objectiveness,” pledging that Russia would continue promoting its positions at the United Nations and its Security Council.

[John Dolva]

DONETSK, May 22. /ITAR-TASS/. The leadership of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) does not rule out that Kiev authorities may attempt to storm Donetsk and stage provocations ahead of the May 25 presidential election. The commander of people’s militia, Miroslav Rudenko, said this on Wednesday commenting on a statement by parliament-appointed interim President Oleksandr Turchynov.

Putin finds Ukraine constitutional referendum before president polls more logical

Turchynov said the Kiev authorities were ready for the final stage of a military operation in the east of the country. He said the army was ready for mop up operations in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions ahead of the presidential election on May 25 to ensure the voting in these regions seeking independence from central government in Ukraine.

“We are receiving reports that Ukrainian troops are concentrating near Donetsk, in particular that units of the Ukrainian army have been seen from the direction of Volovakha (60 kilometers southwest of Donetsk) as well as from the southeast direction — Mariupol,” he said.

“Of course we are expecting provocations ahead of the presidential election. The Kiev junta has staged massacre, genocide, and it is absurd to storm a city with the population of one million people. Are these deaths not enough for them?” Rudenko said.

He said the DNR people’s militia was defending their land. “Knowing the present authorities, we can expect everything. They can quite well storm the city. Then people, including elderly, will take to the streets as it has happened more than once, will block armored vehicles if they attempt to get into the city,” he said.

At present, the situation in Donetsk is relatively calm. The regional administration, housing the headquarters, is controlled by militia. The building is protected by blocks of concrete and sand bags covered with barbed wire. Stores and banks operate as usual. Public transport is functioning, but in the evening, streets get empty as people try not to go out after 9 p.m.

[John Dolva]

LUHANSK, May 22. /ITAR-TASS/. Martial law has been intriduced in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), the republic's press service told ITAR-TASS.

Mobilization of men aged from 18 to 45 has been declared in connection with the introduction of the martial law in the region.

The latest reports, which have not been confirmed yet, said that armed clashes between representatives of people's self-defense forces and Ukrainian law enforcers continued in the north of the self-proclaimed republic, the press center said.

Luhansk asks Kiev to stop punitive operation

The government of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic is ready to sit down to the negotiating table with Kiev if the Ukrainian authorities terminate a punitive operation in Ukraine’s southeast, Valery Bolotov, the people’s governor of the eastern Ukrainian Luhansk Region, said.

“We demand that all armed formations be immediately withdrawn from the territory of the LPR,” Bolotov said in a statement on Wednesday. “We are ready for talks but only after Ukraine stops an aggression against our state.”

He called the special operation conducted by Kiev-controlled army units and armed formations in Ukraine's southeast occupation and “terror against the local population”.

Earlier Wednesday, Bolotov asked the LPR public to take an active part in forming supreme state power bodies in the republic - the Supreme Council and government, as well as in organizing people’s self-government bodies.

Luhansk asks UN to recognize its independence

On May 19, the Republican Council of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic asked the UN to recognize its independence.

"Republican Assembly of People's Republic of Luhansk appeal to you to recognize the sovereignty and independence of our country," statement to the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon says.

"People's Republic of Luhansk intends to build its relations with other states on the basis of equality, peace, good neighborliness and other universally recognized principles of political, economic and cultural cooperation," the authors of the appeal note, stressing that "in accordance with generally accepted international human rights of the people's right to self-determination should be the basis of political decisions and every state has the duty to respect this right".

It also stated that "the inhabitants of the former Luhansk region have tried to preserve the unity and peace in the country " and "staged regularly rallies where voicing their demands.” “But the government did not hear us," the authors emphasized.

Ukraine’s newly-proclaimed republics seek unification

[John Dolva]

Thursday, May 22

11:23 GMT:

Supporters of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic will stage mass protest rallies on Sunday, while Kiev holds a presidential election, a spokesman for the republic’s government told ITAR-TASS.

“We want to keep freedom and independence and say ‘no’ to the Kiev junta,” the spokesman said.

Earlier the leaders of the anti-Kiev activists in Donetsk Region said they would not recognize the presidential election, saying that it violates the Ukrainian constitution.

11:23 GMT:

Some 27,000 Russian citizens living in Ukraine are caught amid the armed clashes between Kiev’s troops and anti-government militias in Donetsk and Lugansk Regions, according to estimates voiced by Russian children’s ombudsman Pavel Astakhov.

“Food is running low in the cities. Children have not been able to go to school for two months. People are hiding in basements. That is why they are asking [Russia] to intervene,” he told Russian News Service radio.

He added that he has sent a letter to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon asking his assistance in organizing a humanitarian corridor to evacuate children from the regions of Ukraine engulfed by violence.

09:35 GMT:

At least eight Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in an attack in the Donetsk Region, according to a Ukrainian journalist who said they had been killed in clashes with "terrorists" in the Volnovakha area.

Another 18 military men were wounded, the journalist said.

According to AP, 11 people were killed.

Russian news website LifeNews reported that a military camp had been attacked, with 15 soldiers killed and 35 wounded.

It’s as the fighting between the National Guard and self-defense forces has reportedly been going on for four hours in the Lugansk area, with four people wounded in the violence, local media reported.

[John Dolva]

21:16 GMT:

Seven self-defense members have been killed in battle near the city of Lisichansk in eastern Ukraine, a Lugansk People’s Republic representative told Ria Novosti.

19:53 GMT:

A family of three has died as Kiev forces continue shelling the besieged protestor-held town of Slavyansk in the Donetsk Region.

“Today during a special operation the security forces shelled a residence building, killing a family of three people, including a 17-year-old boy,” the local self-defense forces told Interfax news agency.

According to the activists, Kiev forces are currently bombarding Slavyansk with shells from howitzers.

One of such shell rammed a brick wall and ceiling in a shop located in the center of the city.

19:06 GMT:

Clashes between self-defense forces and Kiev’s troops are reported in the Lugansk region town of Lisichansk. Anti-government militia is said to have taken by force three IFVs (infantry fighting vehicle) belonging to Kiev, RIA Novosti reports, adding that there are casualties on both sides, but it is impossible to estimate the precise number of dead and injured.

17:47 GMT:

Ahead of May, 25 presidential elections Kiev is reinforcing its troops involved in the military operation in the east of the country, the commander of Slavyansk self-defense, Igor Strelkov, told RIA Novosti. He said that there was no shooting heard on Thursday, which makes him think that Kiev is getting ready to strike and “clear all the south-east” with “one hit”. There have also been reports of more military vehicles coming to the region.

[John Dolva]

LUGANSK, May 23, 4:44 /ITAR-TASS/. A spokesman for people’s militia in the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic appeared at a news conference on Thursday to claim that Ukraine’s Right Sector militants had shot 30 conscript soldiers for laying down arms and defecting to the local civilians. The spokesman, Ostap Cherny, said the incident occurred during talks between the LPR militia and government forces in the town of Privolye.

“On Thursday, we got word from Lisichansk the army was trying to storm the city. We dispatched a group for talks,” he said. “A column of Ukraine’s national guards was blocked from behind by civilians, including women and children.”

“While the talks proceeded, shots began to be fired and seven members of the Lugansk militia were killed and sixteen others injured,” Cherny said. “Thirty men from the Ukrainian brigade laid down arms and defected to civilians. According to the latest information available, Right Sector militants shot them all.”

The spokesman said “the people were in an open field and nobody was hiding when the lethal shots were fired.”

“The ensuing shootout lasted for about half an hour. Mortar shells were exploding and homes were set on fire,” the LPR militia’s spokesman said.

He claimed that eleven armoured vehicles of Ukraine’s National Guard were involved in the clash.

“We have detained the commander of one of the vehicles. He had been abandoned by his own forces,” Cherny said.

[John Dolva]

RT :

In a military operation against breakaway Lugansk People’s Republic, Kiev forces have killed at least 7 self-defence troops and injured dozens locals. The attackers also reportedly shot at their own, who refused to fulfil orders and surrendered.

Both sides suffered losses during the battle near the village of Rubezhnoye, close to Lisichansk in the Lugansk region, said Ostap Cherniy, a spokesman for self-defense forces of the People's Republic of Lugansk said at a press conference on Thursday night.

“When the Ukrainian military with a column of armored vehicles approached Lisichansk, militias tried to negotiate with them, but they opened fire,” Cherniy said as cited by Ria Novosti. He added that local residents, including children, were also trying to block military vehicles of the National Guard and asking “not to kill them.”

At least 7 self-defense members were killed and 16 others injured, according to Cherniy, while there was no information about casualties among Kiev forces.

When the military retreated after the shootout, about 30 of them decided to stay and surrender. Cherniy said that self-defense forces fed the prisoners and decided to relocate them in the local college.

“After they boarded a bus and drove to the college, the military opened fire at the bus with a heavy machine gun,” said the self-defense force representative.

A military doctor Gennady Moralishvili confirmed that Ukrainian armed forces opened fire at their own people, who earlier surrendered. He added that most of those injured currently in the local hospital are civilians. Moralishvili also said that the National Guard set the city's train station on fire and when fire brigade arrived to put it out, they shot at them too.

The ‘friendly-fire’ incident was also confirmed by another captive Ukrainian soldier, who says he was left behind alone inside an armored personnel carrier during the retreat. “The commander ordered us to open indiscriminate fire,” the soldier said during the same press conference, adding that locals “saved him” from Kiev-controlled soldiers.

By the nightfall, armed clashes ceased around the city of Lisichansk, local activist Sergey told RT by phone, adding that the militias have taken control over all checkpoints that came under fire during the day.

Medics in local hospitals were reporting large numbers of injured coming in during the day, the activist says. “There are a lot of injured among local population who came under fire on the outskirts of Lisichansk and Severodonetsk. Some are seriously wounded, who will be sent for surgery and treatment to [Lugansk].”

Local residents are evacuated from the village on the outskirts of the Lisichansk city, Lugansk Region of south-eastern Ukraine on May 22, 2014 (RIA Novosti / Evgeniy Biyatov)

In the neighboring Donetsk People’s Republic – which claimed independence from Kiev simultaneously with Lugansk – armed clashes also intensified on Thursday.

At least 16 Ukrainian rookie soldiers were killed and over 30 injured in an attack on a military checkpoint on the edge of Blagodatnoe village in Donetsk region. While Kiev blames local self-defense for the deadly attack, militias claim they did not conduct this operation and say it a was a staged provocation to frame them.

Reports from the ground indicate that unknown attackers arrived in transit vans, with armored vehicles and combat helicopters providing cover for them. Numerous videos posted online showed two combat helicopters shelling the area.

Kiev is trying to regain control of parts of eastern Ukraine and is bringing in more troops in anticipation of the presidential election on Sunday.

“According to our data, there’s currently around 6,000 [Kiev troops in the Lugansk Region], and their number has increased in recent days,” Valery Bolotov, the head of the People’s Republic of Lugansk, said.

Lugansk and Donetsk regions have refused to recognize Kiev’s coup-imposed authorities, and staged referendums on May 11, which garnered landslide support for independence from Kiev, after which the republics announced they will not participate in Ukraine’s presidential elections scheduled for May 25.