US/NATO/EU and the desperate subversion of Ukraine

[John Dolva]

Monday, June 2

09:09 GMT:

Immediate termination of violence and creation of humanitarian corridors in eastern Ukraine will be among demands Russia will have in its draft resolution on Ukraine to be submitted to the UN Security Council, according to Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

“In order to achieve compliance with the documents [Geneva agreement and OSCE “road map”] – and they start with the demand for ending violence – Russia plans to submit a draft resolution to the UN,” Lavrov said. “It will contain calls for immediate termination of violence and for starting negotiations with the purpose of establishing a lasting and sustainable ceasefire. There will also be a demand to create humanitarian corridors.”

04:55 GMT:

A firefight continues in the city of Lugansk where militia from the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Lugansk are trying to storm the headquarters of the State Border Service of Ukraine, allegedly also used as a base by militants of the ultranationalist Right Sector union.

At least one member of the assault team has been shot dead, while the number of casualties among the besieged military unit is unknown.

The installation was sealed off soon after midnight by armed militia, demanding the servicemen lay down their arms and leave the military base. After four hours of negotiations, the militia launched an assault using assault rifles and grenade launchers.

Several attempts to enter the installation have ended in vain. The Kiev authorities are unable to send any forces to rescue the unit so they dispatched a Sukhoi fighter jet, which made several passes over the city but could not launch a missile attack because the pilot failed to identify the targets, the Ukrainian State Border Service’s press department reported.

[John Dolva]

RT :

Multiple casualties are being reported in the administration building of the city of Lugansk, eastern Ukraine, after a fighter jet attack. The assault was followed by heavy gunfire on the ground, causing panic among civilians.

At least five people have been killed in the attack, according to RIA Novosti. Many wounded are still trapped inside the administration headquarters, which caught on fire. The death toll may rise.

The building façade has been seriously damaged. The wounded are being evacuated from the administration HQ. About six ambulance vehicles have arrived at the site.

#Lugansk: local admin bldg being isolated and evacuated. Firefighters by everywhere. pic.twitter.com/GxDcAv7FM4

— PaulaSlier_RT (@PaulaSlier_RT) June 2, 2014

Large blood stains inside the HQ could be seen on live-streaming video from the area, with pieces of glass and stones also visible on the floor. The camera operator was choking with smoke. On the outside, many windows are shattered, shell fragments covering the nearby area and dark plumes of smoke are coming from the fourth floor.

According to the live stream, the fighters jets are flying back and may be readying a new strike.

Still from Anna News Live Stream

“The fire has engulfed the third and fourth floors of the building, and the windows have been blown out. There are shards of glass everywhere. I saw paramedics carrying people out of the entrance,” a witness told RT.

Minutes earlier, heavy machine-gun shooting was reported in the center of Lugansk, as fierce fighting between the local self-defense squads and Kiev forces renewed after a brief truce.

The shooting reportedly sparked panic among visitors of a café, who rushed out searching for shelter.

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DETAILS TO FOLLOW

[John Dolva]

LUHANSK, June 02. /ITAR-TASS/. Negotiations between people’s police of the Luhansk region and the command of a Ukrainian border post located in the territory of the newly-formed Luhansk People’s Republic came to a dead-lock after a 30 minute truce, a spokesman for the Luhansk People’s Republic told ITAR-TASS on Monday.

According to Ukraine’s border service, 100 armed men surrounded the border post early on Monday morning. The first 40-minute attack with the use of submachine-guns and under-barrel grenades started at around 04:00 (05:00) Moscow time. Ukraine’s border guard service also said that the number of armed men around the border post’s territory had increased to 500 by midday on Monday. It also reports that fighting resumed at 15:30 Moscow after a 30-minute truce.

“We suggested that the border guards living in the territory of the Luhansk People’s Republic leave their units peacefully and go home. The police wanted to settle the situation peacefully. However, the border post’s command has rejected our terms. We believe that this approach is inhumane,” the spokesman for the Luhansk People’s Republic went on to say.

All the wounded were evacuated from the border post’s territory during the 30-minute truce.

The spokesman for the Luhansk People’s Republic told Itar-Tass that no casualties from the militia’s side had so far been reported.

[John Dolva]

21:08 GMT:

Russia has introduced a new UN Security Council draft resolution in Ukraine aimed at immediately ending the violence and creating humanitarian corridors in part of eastern Ukraine, UN envoy Vitaly Churkin told reporters.

"We submitted a draft resolution to the Security Council on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine," he said after a closed meeting of the Security Council, Ria Novosti reports. Churkin said the document drawn up by the Russian Federation "is not politicized."

"It demands the immediate cessation of violence and the creation of humanitarian corridors that would allow the public to safely leave the areas engulfed by the fighting," Churkin said.

19:42 GMT:

Three civilians have been killed in clashes between self-defense troops and Kiev forces in the village of Yasnogorka, on the outskirts of Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, reports Itar-Tass.

“A vehicle was blown up. Three people died inside it,” a representative of the local self-defense activists said. Ambulances that tried to remove the wounded were fired at and are currently staying in the area, as their tires have been shot and deflated.

15:00 GMT:

Russia has called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on 2000 GMT, during which it will ask for the military operation against the separatists to cease, and for the sides to sit down at the negotiating table. Previous Russian resolutions on Ukraine have been vetoed by the Western powers who make up the majority of the Security Council.

[John Dolva]

East-Ukrainian freedom fighters advance toward Kramatorsk airdrome amid fierce fighting

World

June 03, 1:32 UTC+4

Fighting between the opposition and the pro-Kiev armed units was underway in Slavyansk

KRAMATORSK, June 03, /ITAR-TASS/. Ukrainian volunteer guards have advanced on three armored cars from the building of the town hall of the eastern city of Kramatorsk, one of the epicenters of combat clashes in Eastern Ukraine, towards the local airdrome where fighting between volunteers and units of the army has been going on for several hours.

“The armored cars were moving by Parkovaya Street towards the airdrome, in the vicinity of which numerous blasts and incessant firing from large-caliber guns can be heard,” a spokesman for the volunteers said.

In addition to this, reports spoke of combat clashes near the township of Yasnogorka and the administrative boundaries of the city.

Powerful explosions and shooting are heard near the Kramatorsk airfield

“At this moment, we don’t have any data on the victims,” the spokesman said, adding that the current clashes were the most serious ones ever since the outbreak of the armed standoff between the freedom fighters in the east and the forces loyal to the government in Kiev.

In the meantime, fighting between the opposition and the pro-Kiev armed units was underway in Slavyansk, a city 10 km away from Kramatorsk.

Monday, artillery shelling disrupted electric power supplies to the township of Semyonovka near Slavyansk.

Earlier reports spoke of three persons killed as a result of an armed clash between the volunteers and the army units near Yasnogorka. The Itar-Tass interlocutor said the clash had occurred in a place near Mount Karachun where the positions of the army and pro-government paramilitaries are located.

“A passenger car was blown up and three persons died inside it,” he said. “The ambulance cars that tried to evacuate the wounded underwent gunfire. They are now in a standstill as the shots pierced their tires.”

However, the volunteers took positions around the ambulance cars in a bid to prevent their seizure by the pro-government forces.

Early information suggested that volunteer freedom-fighters had died in one of the cars.

[John Dolva]

Ukrainian Fascist Party Demands Martial Law in Southeast

Kiev, Jun 2 (Prensa Latina) The Ukrainian fascist party Svoboda (Freedom) demanded today that martial law be imposed in Donetsk and Lugansk regions and the borders with Russia closed.

In his address during a meeting of the factions of the Supreme Rada (unicameral Parliament), extremist-nationalist Oleg Tyagnibok, leader of Svoboda, said that a military situation must be declared in the two rebel regions, where Kiev authorities have been leading an offensive since mid-April.

He also urged closing the borders with Russia and eliminating the visa free regime between the two countries, a measure that has been repeatedly requested by the Security National Council, also controlled by the Svoboda party.

According to Tygnibok, one of the leaders of the violent events staged in Ukraine at the end of 2013 as well as the coup d'etat in February, the bill was registered at the Rada.

Battles between Ukrainian regular forces and the self-defense militia took place today in Lugansk and Slavyansk, in Donetsk, a region whose residential areas have been subjected to indiscriminate bombings from aircraft and heavy artillery.

During the armed clashes in a territory controlled by units of the Border Guard, in Lugansk, a civilian and two members of the militia were killed, while the Ministry of Interior did not officially report any casualty.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said he expected the United Nations to reiterate the need to comply with Geneva conventions and others on international rights related to protection of civilians.

Lavrov reiterated Russia's concern about the events in Ukraine as civilians are being killed in that country through aerial attacks and heavy artillery.

sus/sa/eav/rc/oda Modificado el ( lunes, 02 de junio de 2014 )

[John Dolva]

04:50 GMT:

Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov [fascist] reported in Facebook the intense rate of fire near the city of Slavyansk, where troops have resumed the active offensive against federalist militia.

In the nearby village of Semyonovka self-defense forces used an RPG to repel a column of armored infantry vehicles. Avakov claims that some vehicles sustained direct hits, but remained operable. The minister called on the citizens of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk - where self-defense forces are trying to push government forces out of a local airport - and the settlement of Krasny Liman “not to approach positions of terrorists.”

The village of Semyonovka has now no electric supply after government troops shelled it with mortars.

The people’s mayor of Slavyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomarev, has reported that up to 40 percent of the 110,000 citizens have fled the city, mostly the younger population. However, an estimated 7,000 children remain in Slavyansk with their parents.

[John Dolva]

08:45 GMT:

A total 181 people, including 59 Kiev troops, have been killed in the military operation in Donetsk and Lugansk Regions in eastern Ukraine, the country’s acting Prosecutor General Oleg Makhnitsky said at a press conference. There were 239 injured.

It was not clear if numbers given by Makhnitsky included casualties among self-defense forces.

08:13 GMT:

#Slavyansk: An agreement's been reached with Uk authorities to evacuate the wounded from the city and towns nearby after new attacks.

— PaulaSlier_RT (@PaulaSlier_RT) June 3, 2014

[John Dolva]

Fighter jet, combat helicopter downed as battles still rage in Ukraine’s Sloviansk

World

June 03, 15:50 UTC+4

Ukraine's parliament-appointed acting prosecutor general said 181 people were dead and 293 wounded since fighting broke out in the country's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions

© AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda

East Ukraine militia down fighter plane, helicopter gunship, 4 APCs

SLOVIANSK, June 03. /ITAR-TASS/. People’s militia in the conflict-hit south-eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk downed a Su-25 fighter and a combat helicopter as well as destroyed four armoured combat vehicles as pro-Kiev troops continue attacks on the city, Sloviansk People’s Mayor Vyacheslav Ponomarev said on Tuesday.

Ponomarev said that on Tuesday two militia people were killed in armed clashes near Sloviansk, adding that “there were no casualties reported among civilians.”

His spokeswoman Stella Khorosheva said that Ukraine's military has amassed armoured vehicles and self-propelled mortars and howitzers near the city. The military equipment numbering 100 units includes Grad salvo systems.

At the Ukrainian parliament’s session on Tuesday, Vladimir Medyanik, a lawmaker with the Communist Party, urged the government to immediately stop the bloodshed in the eight-million populated south-eastern region of Ukraine, where the death toll already amounts to dozens or hundreds killed.

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He also said that a Ukrainian warplane killed seven people and wounded ten in a missile strike at the Luhansk regional administrative building on Monday night.

“Hostilities should be stopped immediately. There cannot be a winner in the civil war,” Medyanik said addressing the parliament.

Ukraine's parliament-appointed acting prosecutor general said 181 people were dead and 293 wounded since fighting broke out in the country's eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

"Fifty-nine servicemen were among those killed," Oleg Makhnitsky told a news conference on Tuesday, adding that more than 200 people, including 12 foreigners, had been abducted in the country's east.

Prosecutors had opened 765 criminal cases over sabotage, terrorist attacks and riots, he said.

Eight children wounded in Ukraine gunfire — ombudsman

Massive protests against the coup-imposed Ukrainian authorities erupted in Ukraine’s south-eastern territories, mainly the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, after Crimea’s merger with Russia. Demonstrators in the Southeast, who have been demanding Ukraine’s federalization, seized some government buildings.

A punitive operation by Kiev against federalization supporters has already claimed dozens of lives, including civilian. The Donetsk and Luhansk regions held referendums on May 11, in which most voters supported independence from Ukraine.

People’s Mayor of Donetsk Alexander Lukyanchenko said evacuation of all people from his city is impossible at the moment. He said there are currently 60,000 children and about 270,000 elderly staying in the city.

[John Dolva]

21:39 GMT:

There have been numerous reports of ongoing fighting between the self-defense forces and the Ukrainian military units over the control of the military base in Lugansk.

The assault on the Ukrainian military stronghold started after the sunset and has now been raging for few hours. There are no official figures of the casualties, but social media footage shows some wounded.

Ria Novosti reports,that the military base is on fire as a result of intense fighting.

20:43 GMT:

Moscow is concerned with Kiev's attempts to conceal the truth about the Odessa massacre on May 2 and are waiting for an impartial probe by the United Nations.

There are people who are “trying to hide” the results of the investigation and don't want to voice the truth, Russia's UN envoy Vitaly Churkin told journalists.

“We must get to the truth," Churkin said, noting that the UN has failed to agree with Kiev authorities on a full-blown criminal investigation into the tragic events of May 2, that left 48 people dead and 247 injured after Ukrainian nationalists burnt the protester camp and set fire to the Trade Unions House with anti-Kiev activists trapped inside.

An official query for holding an inquiry into the Odessa massacre and on bringing the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) into it, was sent to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the end of May.

However Churkin noted that members of the Security Council reaffirmed their intention to monitor the Ukrainian investigations into the matter. Russia hopes that events in Odessa will be examined in the next report of the UN mission, the ambassador added.

Earlier, spokesperson for the UN Secretary General, Stefan Dujaric, said the massacre in Odessa would be considered in the next report of a UN mission observing human rights in Ukraine. The report is due to be presented officially on June 17.

20:18 GMT:

A $500,000 bounty has been offered by the Ukrainian authorities for the capture of Ex-presidential candidate Oleg Tsarev.

“According to the information received, the headquarters of the national defense of Dnipropetrovsk region announced a reward of $500,000 for the capture of Oleg Tsarev,” deputy of Dnepropetrovsk Regional State Administration, Boris Filatov wrote on his Facebook page.

Earlier the Ukrainian parliament approved the arrest of Tsarev, a vocal critic of the presidential election in Ukraine.

Last week, Kiev's Prosecutor General Oleg Magnitsky said that his office is investigating several criminal cases against politicians accused of making "public calls to overthrow the existing constitutional system in Ukraine, change its state borders and stage acts of disobedience, which entailed grave consequences and caused many casualties among law enforcers and peaceful civilians", TASS reports.

18:43 GMT:

Deadly air strikes in Lugansk are among Kiev’s “crimes against their own people,” the Russian Foreign Ministry has said.

The ministry’s statement particularly noted that “the escalation of actions of the Ukrainian forces and ultranationalists coincided with the Kiev visit of the US Assistant Secretary of Defense Derek Chollet.”

Chollet met Monday with Ukrainian security and defense officials and announced that the US has doubled its military aid to Kiev, bringing it to a hefty $18 million in “nonlethal supplies.” The US official promised even more assistance to the Ukrainian military and border guards, saying that Kiev authorities provided him with a “long list” of needs.

17:41 GMT:

The village of Krasny Liman near Slavyansk in the Donetsk region was heavily shelled by the Ukrainian army during Kiev’s military operation Tuesday. Residents were killed and injured as shells hit a hospital, school and train station, locals told RT.

16:37 GMT:

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) confirmed that the deadly explosion at Lugansk regional administration HQ was indeed an airstrike. Kiev has so far denied the responsibility for the incident, saying its forces “do not target” civilian areas.

16:16 GMT:

Kiev has admitted showering the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk with dozens of missiles from the air, saying that its Air Force helicopters and jets “fired more than 150 missiles” in Monday’s military action.

According to a Tuesday statement by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, the intense bombing in Lugansk area was meant to “support the Ukrainian Border Guards,” which the local militia have been trying to take under control.

“All in all, for fulfilling the combat support of the Ukrainian border guards the army aviators fired more than 150 missiles, carried out three jet sorties and five helicopter sorties,” the statement says.

14:09 GMT:

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) will reduce the number of observers in Donetsk and Lugansk regions in southeastern Ukraine due to safety concerns, the organization’s Secretary General, Lamberto Zannier, was cited as saying by Itar-Tass. He added that the observers would be relocated to Kiev, Kharkov and Dnepropetrovsk.

13:45 GMT:

Ukrainian Air Force fighter jets are continuing to fire missiles at the city of Slavyansk, with a population over 110,000 people, and the village of Semenovka near the city, the People’s Mayor of Slavyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomarev, told Itar-Tass. According to the latest reports, the intensity of military clashes in the region has lowered, but separate missile firing is still heard. The extent of the damage cannot be assessed yet. Ponomarev said that, according to preliminary information, two self-defense fighters died in clashes.

13:43 GMT:

The people’s mayor of Slavyansk has denied media reports that the Ukrainian army have seized the settlement of Krasny Liman, 15 kilometers from Slavyansk.

“They’ve reached Zeleny Klin [a train station near Krasny Liman]. They did not seize Krasny Liman. They struck our checkpoint, but that doesn’t show anything,” Vyacheslav Ponomarev told Itar-Tass.

12:49 GMT:

The UN children’s rights body UNICEF has raised the alarm over seven children injured since Kiev intensified its military operation in the east of Ukraine a month ago, as residential areas have increasingly come under fire.

[John Dolva]

Ukrainian National Guard Prepares New Repressive Battalion

Kiev, Jun 3 (Prensa Latina) The National Guard of Ukraine today announced the creation of a third Donbass battalion made up of radicals and former Maidan activists, to quell the resistance in Donetsk and Lugansk.

• Ukraine Acknowledged Total Support from the West
• Arbitration Ruled Out by Russian-Ukrainian Gas Agreement

According to that repressive structure formed after last February's coup d'etat, more than 300 armed men, from 18 to 55 years old, are part of the third battalion.

The National Guard communique acknowledges that the majority of the "volunteers" are activists who took part in the violent disturbances in the capital during the anti-government protests that ended in the coup d'etat.

The Donbass battalion was created by the leader of the fascist Right Sector organization, Dmitri Yarosh.

The second battalion was created in early June, using former Maidan fighters in battles waged around Slavyansk city, in the Donetsk region. The National Guard is also involved in repressive actions against pockets of resistance in Mariupol, Jarkov, Odessa, and Nikolaev.

Meanwhile, the Lugansk Police today confirmed that the Ukrainian Air Force's fighters launched around 20 missiles against the Government building. Eight civilians were killed and 28 others were injured in the attacks.

Also today, Ukrainian fighter jets and helicopters launched new missile attacks against populated zones in Slavyansk, Donetsk region, as part of a military offensive to punish the eastern part of the country.

News agencies quoted sources from the people's militias as saying that Ukrainian fighters are raining shrapnel on the towns of Semenovka and Raigorodok. Russian television channels aired footage of the destruction left by the bombings.

Another two helicopters from the Ukrainian Air Force bombed Cherevovka area, also in Slavyansk region, which has become a symbol of the resistance to the military operation started by Kiev mid last April.

Members of the National Guard and squadrons of the fascist Right Sector group are taking part in those military incursions.

sus/sa/ajs/rc/oda Modificado el ( martes, 03 de junio de 2014 )

[John Dolva]

Wednesday, June 4

06:36 GMT:

The Ukrainian Air Force has launched a new airstrike on Semyonovka settlement in the suburbs of the city of Slavyansk. The previous day Semyonovka sustained five airstrikes from both assault helicopters and fighter jets, while an artillery assault continued through the whole day, another settlement Cherevkovka suffered a missile attack.

[John Dolva]

11:15 GMT:Prof Ferrada de Noli ‏@ProfessorsBlogg

Sweden 'explicitly backed' fascist Junta's USE OF FORCE in East #Ukraine. This is it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ldBUugf_D5s&feature=youtu.be … #Svpol pic.twitter.com/JmlY9exSJH

[it's the right wing in sweden. Forget about the old sweden. Todays sweden has embraced the empire.Changes started after the assassination of Palme when bildt and co were preparing their run.]

11:12 GMT:

Kiev must be held responsible for its military actions in eastern Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry’s commissioner for human rights, Konstantin Dolgov, told reporters.

“What is now happening in the east of Ukraine must not remain unpunished,” Dolgov said. “If we say that double standards must be put aside, that the whole world will enhance the democratic development of Ukraine, then there must be no impunity. Measures must be taken by all countries, including the western ones, to make the authorities in Kiev stop their punitive operation in the first place.”

11:11 GMT:

Self-defense fighters in Slavyansk, eastern Ukraine, downed two Ukrainian army jets on Tuesday, according to people’s mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryov.

"Yesterday evening, around 10 pm (local time), a second Ukrainian jet was downed. It’s not yet clear which exactly. It fell somewhere near a brick factory,” Ponomaryov said, adding the pilot managed to eject from the aircraft and escape from self-defense forces.

Ponomaryov also said two Ukrainian army helicopters had earlier been downed by the self-defense forces.

The Ukrainian armed forces have confirmed that two of their helicopters were forced down.

08:34 GMT:

Russia has never attempted to destabilize the situation in Ukraine and there are no Russian troops in that country, President Vladimir Putin has said.

“There are no military forces, no Russian instructors in southeast Ukraine,” he told journalists from French TF1 television and radio Europe 1 ahead of his visit to France.

Moscow has no intention to “incorporate Ukraine,” Putin said, as cited by RIA Novosti. The president stressed that the Ukrainian government should “build up dialogue with their own people, through negotiations rather than with the help of tanks and planes.”

[John Dolva]

Materials over Ukraine’s nationalist leader Yarosh passed to Interpol

KIEV, June 04. /ITAR-TASS/. Leader of a far-right Ukrainian party Right Sector Dmytro Yarosh, who was put on international wanted list by the Russian Investigative Committee, was offered a post in a new government in the country to be formed under President-elect Petro Poroshenko. Yarosh accepted the offer, Right Sector representative Borislav Bereza told local media on Wednesday.

“You can expect Yarosh to decide on taking a post in a new government soon,” he affirmed, also saying with hope that Right Sector would be represented in a new Ukrainian parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, where he would work together with the nationalist party Svoboda (Freedom).

The main investigation department of the Russian Investigative Committee opened criminal proceedings against Yarosh on accusation of public appeals to terrorism and extremism-related activity through media. Yarosh was put on international wanted list. Basmanny district court of Moscow sanctioned his arrest in absentia.

[John Dolva]

Wednesday, June 4

17:48 GMT:

Ukraine will close its border with Russia in the southern Donetsk region and part of the Lugansk region, said parliament speaker Aleksandr Turchinov, who is the country’s acting president, the Lb.ua news portal reports.

“It’s one of key elements of the anti-terrorist operation,” Turchinov said. “It will allow us to isolate terrorists from getting arms shipments from abroad.”

Turchinov did not specify how long the border would be closed.

16:41 GMT:

Kiev has used its Air Force against rebels near the town of Slavyansk in Donetsk region, RIA Novosti reports, citing eyewitnesses.

“Su-25 fighter jets attacked several times [the villages of] Nikolayevka and Semyonovka and launched aircraft rockets at Nikolayevka,” representatives of the local self-defense headquarters said.

14:28 GMT:

The EU will sign the rest of the agreement on Ukraine’s accession, particularly the economic part, by June 27 at the latest, said Herman van Rompuy, the President of the European Council.

14:20 GMT:

Russia’s Investigative Committee has created a special department to investigate international crimes against civilians committed on the territory of Ukraine, said the committee’s spokesman Vladimir Markin.

“A large number of photo and video materials that prove mass crimes against civilians will be used in the investigation,” he added. “In addition, Russia's Investigative Committee intends to obtain satellite data from independent sources of various countries, which will show the nature of destruction, its quantity and locations of Ukrainian military units.”

Markin noted that since the crisis in southeastern Ukraine began, over 4,000 Ukrainians have asked for asylum in Russia, including 500 children.

“All of them will be questioned as part of the criminal investigation,” he said.

The Investigative Committee intends to prosecute all officials taking part in the military crackdown on southeastern Ukraine – the military, the officials giving out orders, and those “who are financing the killings of civilians,” Markin said.

“In this regard, Russia's Investigative Committee intends to give a legal assessment of the actions made by [interior Minister] Arsen Avakov, [Governor of Dnepropetrovsk region] Igor Kolomoisky and others.”

13:31 GMT:

Alec Luhn @ASLuhn Follow

After seeing string of craters at blast that killed 8 civilians in #Luhansk, I don't buy the rebel RPG theory. It looks like an airstrike.

9:17 PM - 4 Jun 2014

13:27 GMT:

Representatives of the Ukrainian army killed over 25 wounded self-defense fighters who were patients at the Krasny Liman hospital, said the chairman of the Donetsk People’s Republic Supreme Council, Denis Pushilin.

"Indeed, we can now confirm the killing of the wounded in the hospital – more than 25 people were killed. And this figure can rise. This is a blatant war crime; it is genocide," Pushilin said in an interview to Russian TV channel Rossiya-24 on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian army shelled the eastern village of Krasny Liman on Tuesday as part of a military crackdown on the southeastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk.