US/NATO/EU and the desperate subversion of Ukraine

[John Dolva]

Any future peace talks between Kiev and the self-proclaimed eastern republics will be about their surrender, Daniel McAdams, the Executive Director of the Ron Paul Institute, told RT, adding that Ukrainian authorities are carrying out ethnic cleansing.

RT: Do you agree with President Poroshenko that civilians are not being targeted and the army is liberating the east of the country?

Daniel McAdams: Well unless it is the most elaborate deception campaign in the history of propaganda, everything that I've seen has shown that the jets and the military from Kiev are decimating villages. And I think it should not be a surprise because the new president has already said, “We will attack, and liberate our land,” but the members of his administration have referred to the people in the east as sub-humans, insects and other things. So you first dehumanize the population and then you begin an ethnic campaign. And I think that is what you are seeing in the east now is the beginning of an ethnic cleansing campaign. We have already seen that 100,000-plus have fled to Russia. So this is the administration that has used deception and lies in the past and I think we're seeing it again.

RT: But if you say it’s an ethnic cleansing campaign, then to what end? I mean, even though these people are living in the east of Ukraine and their tendencies and their sympathies may lie with Russia, they are still Ukrainian citizens.

DM: That is correct but they also are disconnected from Kiev. It is very ironic, today in the US we're celebrating the 238th anniversary of our Independence Day where we broke away from an unelected tyrannical government far away. Yet, the same US government is now doing its very best to suppress the people in east Ukraine who want the very same thing – just the ability to secede from a government that they feel is oppressive and does not represent their views. So it is actually a sad irony sitting here in the US celebrating Independence Day.

RT: President Poroshenko is proposing a new time and place for the negotiations with these republics. How committed do you think he is to those talks?

DM: Well, he is committed but his position has already been clear: you have to surrender or be killed. So, I think the talks, unless I'm mistaken and it is very possible, I hope I am mistaken, but the talks will nearly be about the conditions of their surrender. So those are not really talks in the true sense of the word. So it is hard to be optimistic about it.

RT: So what kind of result do you think will come from them?

DM: I do not think much will come from them, again unless I'm terribly mistaken. If you look at this post-coup government in Kiev, this really is an Orange Revolution 2.0. Look down at the persons, to the people who have been appointed – they are all Yushchenko's retreads, they are all cronies of Poroshenko, billionaire oligarchs. So this is nothing new. If this was a revolution to get rid of corruption and to start afresh, it is a remarkable way of doing it. So I think I do not expect anything different at all, except that this is way more violent than the Orange Revolution 1.0.

[John Dolva]

DONETSK, July 06, 1:57 /ITAR-TASS/. Donetsk’s self-defense forces are strengthening the city’s defense, a spokesperson for the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic told Itar-Tass on Saturday.

“There have been no reports that the Ukrainian army has battled through into the city,” the spokesperson said. He also denied press reports about explosions in Donetsk’s center.

At the same time, the press service of the Donetsk People’s Republic confirmed the Ukrainian army had established control over Kramatorsk, Nikolayevka and Slavyansk.

On Saturday, Ukraine’s President Pyotr Poroshenko ordered his troops to continue the operation to liberate [create enemies in] the Donetsk and Lugansk regions by narrowing the ring around the people’s self-defense forces in eastern Ukraine.

[John Dolva]

DONETSK, July 06, 1:09 /ITAR-TASS/. Representatives of people’s militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic on Saturday arrived in Donetsk from Slavyansk.

A column of armored vehicles under the flags of the Donetsk People’s Republic entered the city on one of the bridges at 18:00 local time (19:00 Moscow time). It headed for the city center and drove into the yard of the Donetsk regional state administration where the local residents met the militias with applause.

After that, the people’s militias drove to the building of Ukraine’s Security Service. They tried to calm down the local residents saying, “Do not be afraid! We are here to protect you. These are not tanks which you should fear.”

The militias said they were very sorry that they had to leave Slavyansk and surrender it to the Ukrainian troops. “But, we received an order and we had to obey it. Had I said that I would stay in Slavyansk, no one would have shot me. I would have been my personal decision. But the commanders ordered us to retreat. So, we are here,” said one self-defense fighter who had just arrived in Donetsk from Slavyansk.

It is still unknown for how long the militias are going to stay in Donbas. The situation is unpredictable.

“Tomorrow, you will know everything. We cannot disclose our command’s plans,” the self-defense fighters said.

“Incessant bombardments of peaceful civilians are under way in Slavyansk and Kramatorsk. It is absolute insanity. We simply could not sit at home and watch that from Donetsk,” they said.

[John Dolva]

MINSK, July 06, 0:12 /ITAR-TASS/. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Saturday that it was necessary to end the war in Ukraine.

“Today, we need to exert every effort to stop the fratricidal and bloody war in fraternal Ukraine, our southern neighbor. It is a serious problem for our Slavic world,” Lukashenko said at the Alexandria agrarian town in the Mogilev region which the president had visited for the Kupalje celebrations.

“The Slavic unity has given a very serious crack. We should do everything to settle the situation in our dear fraternal Ukraine. It is not easy. But it should be done,” the presidential service quoted Lukashenko as saying.

“We will also be helped and given various opportunities to wage a war against each other. Unfortunately, I can no longer say that it is impossible. We have already allowed that happen. This is real. It is a fact accompli,” Lukashenko stressed.

[John Dolva]

KIEV/DONETSK/LUGANSK, July 05, 20:52 /ITAR-TASS/. Militiamen have left Slavyansk besieged by the Ukrainian army, fighting their way to Kramatorsk and Artyomovsk.

The troops of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) have taken positions along reserve defence lines. Militiamen from other cities of the Donetsk Region are moving toward the regional capital. The Ukrainian army is sustaining heavy losses in Lugansk: about 130 of them have died there over the past 24 hours. Militia’s headquarters moves from Slavyansk to Kramatorsk

Militiamen left Slavyansk last night, moving their headquarters to Kramatorsk. Slavyansk is almost completely deserted. It was bombed again during the night, forcing people to flee en masse. Two ambulances that were transporting injured people also came under attack even though the Ukrainian authorities had promised to open a humanitarian corridor for those wishing to leave the city.

The local military hospital has been moved to Donetsk. Its chief physician in Donetsk said there was a shortage of personnel and all those available were busy placing the wounded, whose number has doubled.

The towns of Semyonovka and Niklolayevka, which for a long time remained the only link to Donetsk, have been taken by the Ukrainian army.

DNR troops take positions on reserve defence lines

DNR Prime Minister Alexander Borodai told ITAR-TASS that the self-proclaimed republic’s troops had to surrender their previous positions to the outnumbering Ukrainian army and move to the reserve ones. “Our troops have taken up positions on the reserve defence lines, doing so in an organised manner and preserving the personnel and hardware. We were prepared for this as we had to fight a group of several dozen thousand people and hundreds of armoured hardware; in other words, practically the entire defence capability of the Ukrainian army,” Borodai said.

“Our troops are continuing to fight, their morale is high and we are confident of our strength. But considering the scorched earth tactics used by the punitive squadrons and the overall Ukrainian strategy of genocide against the people in Donbas, we say that every hour of fighting claims the lives of peaceful people,” he said. “We are urging the international community to influence the Ukrainian authorities and stop the extermination of the peaceful population,” Borodai said.

Ukrainian army reports results of special operation to President Poroshenko

The chief of the Ukrainian Army General Staff, Viktor Muzhenko, briefed President Pyotr Poroshenko on the situation in Slavyansk. “Militants made an attempt to break out of Slavyansk last night but came under mortar fire from the Ukrainian army,” the presidential press service quoted Muzhenko as saying. “As a result, one tank, two armoured personnel carriers and two airborne combat vehicles of the militants were destroyed. Reconnaissance units of the armed forces and the National Guard of Ukraine are now working in Slavyansk.”

Muzhenko and Defence Minister Valery Geletei then told the president that a Ukrainian flag had been raised on the Slavyansk City Council building.

“The commanders of the armed forces also briefed the supreme commander-in-chief on the progress of the anti-terrorism operation. A reconnaissance company is now in Kramatorsk to study the possibility of planting mines in the city for further combat operation,” the press service said.

Ukrainian army aviation continues air raids in Donetsk

Personnel were evacuated from the building of the Donetsk city administration in connection with an air raid by the Ukrainian army. DNR chief administrative officer Boris Litvinov said air raids had become commonplace. “It has become customary that several planes would scoop down on the city and its administration building. The military asked us to leave the building for an hour or two in order to avoid possible casualties” he said.

At the same time, Litvinov said “the cabinet of ministers is working as usual, each doing his job. No meetings were scheduled for today”.

About 130 Ukrainian security force members die in fighting in Lugansk

About 130 members of the Ukrainian security forces died in fighting in the eastern Ukrainian city of Lugansk over the past 24 hours, the press service of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LNR) said.

It said an Ilyushin-76 plane, seven armoured personnel carriers, two howitzers, two mortars, an air defence system and five vehicles of the Ukrainian army were also destroyed.

“The Ukrainian army tried to attack the city from three directions… all attacks were successfully repelled by the LNR army. The enemy lost two howitzers, a mortar crew and about 30 personnel,” the press service said.

“The LNR fighters carried out a successful operation in the area of the Lugansk airport held by the enemy’s aeromobile troops. The enemy was shelled from heavy mortars and lost an Il-76 plane, seven armoured personnel carriers, a mortar crew, one air defence system, five vehicles and about 100 troops,” the press service said.

At the same time, the Ukrainian army killed one person and wounded 13, including one child, in Lugansk.

New attack on journalists in Kiev

Attacks on journalists are continuing in Kiev. Saturday’s attack on the editorial offices of the Kiev-based newspaper Vesti was the latest of them.

One of its employees, Grigory Grin, said the attack had happened at about 11:00 local time (12:00 Moscow time). “At first I heard several gunshots, fired most likely from automatic weapons. Then rocks and Molotov cocktails came crashing through the windowpanes of the first and second floors. After that tear gas was poured into the building, spreading quickly around, and it’s still hard to breath there. One of the security personnel who tried to stop the bandits was beaten up,” Grin said.

Vesti owner Igor Guzhva said police had arrived at the scene of the attack and expressed hope that “the perpetrators and the masterminds will be identified”.

On Friday, July 4, the issue of journalists’ security was raised at a meeting between media representatives and Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko, following the July 2 incident in the centre of the city not far from Independence Square. When a TV crew was filming a report on the barricades several unidentified persons tried to stop them, demanding that they erase the tape. When the reporters refused to do so, the unidentified person used force against them. After that local media wrote an open letter to Klitschko, asking him to ensure the security of journalists in the city.

[John Dolva]

ROSTOV-ON-DON, July 05, 20:29 /ITAR-TASS/. At least four mortar bombs fired during shootouts in Ukrainian regions bordering Russia exploded on the outskirts of the town of Donetsk in the southern Russian Rostov Region, Russian Federal Customs Service Southern Department spokesman Rayan Farukshin said Saturday.

“Four bombs from the adjacent territory landed in Russia. Two fell in Russia’s ‘Donetsk’ checkpoint. They exploded to the left and right of the checkpoint’s main building. According to preliminary data, no one was injured,” Farukshin said.

Earlier, Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) regional department spokesman Vasily Malayev said mortar bombs from Ukraine landed on the outskirts of the Russian town of Donetsk. He said customs and other services’ personnel have been evacuated.

Border department officials are on the site and keep fulfilling their tasks, Malayev told Itar-Tass. He added that according to preliminary data, no one was killed or injured.

Russia’s Investigative Committee on Saturday launched criminal proceedings into the shelling from Ukraine of a group of Russian investigators in the Russian Rostov Region near the “Donetsk” border-crossing point.

Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Itar-Tass that Russian investigators wearing special jackets with the inscription “Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation” came under fire on Friday.

Russian police officers, two servicemen and witnesses who were inspecting the terrain some 300-400 meters from Russia’s state border with Ukraine after a previous instance of such shelling also came under fire.

“The investigative group discovered traces of shell bursts in a forest on the territory of the Russian Federation. Combat engineers began examining the traces,” Markin said.

“At this time, servicemen of Ukraine’s armed forces, armed members of the National Guard of Ukraine and Right Sector [ultranationalist movement] militants fired from the territory of Ukraine at least eight shots from unidentified weapons with unidentified explosive shells,” he said.

The investigative group left the site, which prevented deaths. The group’s vehicle was damaged in the explosions.

“Criminal proceedings were launched … on suspicion of the crime stated by Article 317 of the Russian Criminal Code [an attempt to kill a law enforcement officer],” Markin said.

An investigation is underway.

Kiev's punitive operation against federalization supporters in Ukraine's southeastern regions bordering Russia, which involves armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation, has left hundreds of people dead, destroyed buildings and forced tens of thousands to flee Ukraine to Russia.

[John Dolva]

LUGANSK, July 6 /ITAR-TASS/. Kiev’s military and self-defense militia exchanged mortar fire as armed clashes continued last night near the Lugansk airport controlled by the Ukrainian law-enforcers, the press office of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic said on Sunday.

Combat operations are also continuing near the settlements of Mettalist and Krasny Yar, as well as near the Izvarino checkpoint which is controlled by the local self-defense militia, the press office said.

A signature-collecting point has been opened in the center of Lugansk to sign an appeal to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon with a demand to stop Kiev’s aggression against civilians.

Health Minister of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic Viktor Avakyan said on Saturday that at least 80 people, including 56 civilians and 24 self-defense fighters, had been taken to Lugansk hospitals as a result of bombings and shelling by the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine has been in turmoil since the end of last year, when then-President Viktor Yanukovych suspended the signing of an association agreement with the European. His decision triggered anti-government protests that often turned violent and eventually led to a coup in February 2014.

New people were brought to power in Kiev amid riots and ultranationalist rhetoric. Crimea refused to recognize the coup-imposed authorities, held a referendum and seceded from Ukraine to reunify with Russia in mid-March after some 60 years as part of Ukraine. The West and Kiev do not recognize Crimea's reunification with Russia.

Crimea’s example apparently inspired residents of Ukraine’s Southeast, who supported the country’s federalization. They started massive protests and formed militias. Since mid-April, Kiev has been conducting a punitive operation against federalization supporters in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions.

Kiev’s operation against federalization supporters in Ukraine's embattled southeastern regions bordering Russia, which involves armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation, has already resulted in hundreds of deaths, destroyed buildings and forced tens of thousands of people to cross the border from Ukraine to Russia.

[John Dolva]

Sunday, July 6

10:40 GMT:

Heavy gunfire has been heard in several areas of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, as well as the outskirts of the cities, and the Ukrainian artillery has carried out several shelling attacks, locals told RIA Novosti news agency.

There is no information regarding the victims.

The assault comes a day after self-defense forces left the area, moving to Donetsk, Gorlovka and Snezhnoye.

[John Dolva]

RT :

An internal investigation will be launched against all Ukrainian police officers who stayed in the city of Slavyansk and were reportedly detained after the militia of Donetsk People’s Republic broke out of the besieged city and relocated their forces.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs issued a statement on Saturday evening, announcing that soon a new head of Slavyansk police will be appointed, while in the meantime “an internal investigation of each member of the local police force will be launched.”

The decision to investigate Slavyansk's law enforcement officers, was also announced by Deputy Interior Minister Sergei Yarovoy.

“During these official investigations we will determine if police officers in Slavyansk collaborated with the separatists or remained faithful to the oath to the Ukrainian people,” Yarovoy said, adding that a new police force in the city will be formed. He also said that police officers from other Ukrainian regions have already voiced their wish to come serve in Slavyansk.

According to unconfirmed reports from the ground, many of those police officers, who did not leave the city along with self-defense forces or fled earlier, have already been arrested by Ukrainian forces, as was promised by Interior Minister Arsen Avakov.

The commander of the Ukrainian National Guard meanwhile warned that it is “too early” to come back to the destroyed city, as the forces loyal to Kiev are still conducting a sweep of the city.

Aftermath of an artillery attack by the Ukrainian army on the Artyom district in Slavyansk. (RIA Novosti / Andrey Stenin)

“Police [loyal to Kiev] arrived in the city. Now police began patrolling the city’s streets, yards. The situation is still difficult. There are clashes with small groups of armed men who remained in the city. There are attempts to stop us. But they are stopped by the [Kiev] forces that are in Slavyansk,” Commander of the National Guard Stepan Poltorak told TPK Ukraine.

The National Guard still needs time “to work” in Slavyansk before residents can return to the deserted city, Poltorak added. “We need to particularly examine the city center where there are lots of mined basements, attics,” Poltorak said, adding that civilians will be informed when the National Guard “finishes the job” and is “ready to receive them.”

Meanwhile the commander of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic's self-defense forces, Igor Strelkov told LifeNews that his forces had to leave the city to preserve lives amid the never-ending onslaught on the civilian population by the Ukrainian forces.

Up to “90 percent of the self-defense forces have left the city” along with 90 percent of the hardware and munitions, he said. Strelkov said that most of the population that supports them as well as families of the militia were also evacuated due to the threats to their lives.

But despite that, commander Strelkov believes the National Guard may now engage in punitive actions against those civilians of Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, and Artemovka who decided to stay or could not leave in time – for their suspected role in resisting and defying the Ukrainian authorities.

“As we were expecting, unfortunately... we already have information that they [Kiev's forces] started a bloodbath,” Strelkov said, claiming that a few of his forces confirmed this.

“The National Guard getting revenge for their numerous losses on the locals,” Strelkov said, apologising to those who thought that once self-defense forces leave, all who stayed will be “safe from repressions.”

“No, it will not save them,” Strelkov told LifeNews. “We are being attacked by real fascists, in a true sense of the word, killers, criminals, and marauders.”

On Saturday, after the militia were forced to leave their positions in the northern part of the front, they moved to reserve positions that had been prepared in advance, in and around the capital of the region Donetsk.

The country’s President Petro Poroshenko called the victory symbolic and ordered authorities to provide humanitarian aid to residents of Slavyansk and other areas “liberated from militants.” But the residents of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk in the meantime were fleeing the cities after the DPR forces' retreat.

[John Dolva]

19:49 GMT:

Kiev authorities are arresting all men aged between 25 and 35 years old in the city of Slavyansk, Oleg Tsarev of the Lugansk and Donetsk People's Republics told Rossiya 24 TV. The state security forces are detaining all men in the age gap, without investigating whether they have joined the self-defense forces or not.

"Over night they arrested all police officers and moved them out of town. Now they are arresting all guys from 25 to 35 years old, and it doesn't matter whether they've touched weapons or not. Searches are being conducted. They’re trying to figure out who helped feeding the injured," Tsarev said.

19:31 GMT:

The Ukrainian army occupied several cities and towns in the country's east over the weekend, according to a report from the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council. Slavyansk, Kramatorsk, Druzhkovka and Konstantinovka in the Donetsk region were said to have been taken over by Kiev. Ukraine state flags were raised above the city council buildings there, Council spokesman Andrey Lysenko said on Sunday.

The fifth town - Artyomovsk - was added to the list in a Defense Ministry report to Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko.

Poroshenko has ordered the Defense Minister Valery Geletey to start recovery works on the infrastructure in the towns and provide the delivery of food and water to the locals, the presidential press-service reported.

18:59 GMT:

The Ukrainian army will besiege the cities of Lugansk and Donetsk in the country's east, in an attempt to make the self-defense forces lay down arms, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council official told Ukrainian Inter TV channel on Sunday.

"The main strategic plan of the Ukrainian army is to besiege Lugansk and Donetsk," Mikhail Koval, deputy secretary of the Council said. Such measures will force the local "separatists" to lay down arms, he added.

18:14 GMT:

Ukrainian forces attacked the suburbs of the city of Lugansk from the air.

"Ukrainian aviation launched missile strikes at Aleksandrovka, the Lugansk suburb. Ukrainian airplanes are in the skies above Lugansk. A siren is on," press service of the Donetsk People's Republic wrote on Twitter.

The attack was launched the same day Kiev said it would not bombard armed groups in Lugansk and Donetsk from the air. "The tactics of the Ukrainian Army, the National Guard and the Border Service are such that massive bombardment of residential areas is excluded," Andrey Lysenko, spokesman of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council said on Sunday.

17:22 GMT:

Two refugees - a woman and a girl - were injured while fleeing their hometown of Slavyansk in eastern Ukraine.

A convoy of the self-defense forces was moving away from the towns of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk, with some refugee families joining the military convoy.

"Some drivers forgot the black-out order and had their headlights on. We were located by the enemy, who fired at us with Grad rocket launchers, hitting the convoy’s tail," a Donetsk People's Republic representative told RIA Novosti.

16:46 GMT:

Some 30 refugees - mostly women and children - arrived in the city of Donetsk on Sunday. People had to flee their hometown of Kramatorsk, where they "had to walk several kilometers under gunfire to get water to give to the children," one woman said.

Refugees are now awaiting temporary accommodation. Living a normal everyday life was impossible while hiding in Kramatorsk bomb shelters, a woman said: "We couldn't even go home to take a shower, to feed our children, to take food for ourselves. They don't give us any money, no child support, no salaries. We don't even have jobs anymore... Look at us, what kind of separatists are we?"

[John Dolva]

Ukraine army assaults Lugansk: Airstrikes on suburbs, shelling of residential areas

Published time: July 06, 2014 14:13

Edited time: July 06, 2014 23:34

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Kiev's artillery attacked the city of Lugansk in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, witnesses and militia of the self-proclaimed People's Republic of Lugansk (LNR) said. Ukrainian forces also attacked the city’s suburbs from the air.

Follow RT's LIVE UPDATES on Kiev's military op in eastern Ukraine

"Ukrainian aviation launched missile strikes at Aleksandrovka, the Lugansk suburb. Ukrainian airplanes are in the skies above Lugansk. A siren is on," the press service of the Donetsk People's Republic wrote on Twitter.

After 8 p.m. Moscow time, the confrontation between the self-defense and Ukrainian forces intensified in the suburbs of Lugansk, RIA Novosti reported.

The agency said that a heavy aircraft could be heard flying above Lugansk, after which a siren went off.

The consequences of an artillery attack on the town of Lugansk. (RIA Novosti / Valeriy Melnikov)

In general, in the evening hours the situation within the city was calm. Earlier in the day Lugansk mayor addressed its citizens and asked them not to leave their homes.

One civilian was reportedly killed in the morning attacks, four more people injured.

Later in the day, following the air strikes, an air raid alert was heard in Lugansk, Itar-Tass news agency reported.

The attack happened the same day Kiev said it would not bombard armed groups in Lugansk and Donetsk from the air. "The tactics of the Ukrainian Army, the National Guard and the Border Service are such that massive bombardment of residential areas is excluded," Andrey Lysenko, spokesman of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council said on Sunday.

The body of a local resident killed in the artillery attack on the town of Lugansk. (RIA Novosti / Valeriy Melnikov)

Air strikes and heavy artillery will target only convoys outside cities, he added.

"Several buildings are burning in the city, some people have been injured, there are a lot of ambulances in the streets,” militia representatives told Itar-Tass on Sunday, adding that locals rushed to bomb shelters. Witnesses say the battery factory was hit, which is close to a bus terminal.

Grad rocket launchers may have been used in the attack, the sources from the Lugansk People’s Republic said.

ФОТО Последствия бомбежки Луганска несколько минут назад pic.twitter.com/MEVFNrukIa

— Коробков-Землянский (@korobkov) July 6, 2014

Ukrainian forces confirmed the shelling of the areas near the Lugansk railway and bus stations on Sunday afternoon, but blamed it on the opposing self-defense forces.

"I presume the fire was really intense as it reached the city center from the outskirts. I heard at least five or six explosions," Anton Bukhalo, a journalist from Lugansk, told RT. He added that people were trying to leave the city.

A RIA-Novosti journalist also reported the sound of artillery and gunfire in Lugansk on Sunday.

Ukrainian forces hit a building in the city center and "huge black smoke" was seen in the area, an eyewitness from Lugansk told RT via Skype. He added that a warehouse was burning.

"I can often hear explosions or shooting. I can hear it every five to ten minutes," said the man, who is currently in the eastern part of Lugansk.

Several explosions were reportedly heard in the Lugansk airport area, and the movement of military equipment was observed in the town of Schastie, near Lugansk.

The previous night mortar shelling took place near the Lugansk airport, but there are no further reports of casualties so far.

On Saturday, the health minister of the Lugansk People’s Republic said at least 80 people had been treated in Lugansk hospitals after a day of bombing and gunfire from Ukrainian forces. He said 56 of the injured were civilians.

On Sunday in Lugansk city center, people were collecting signatures for an appeal to the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Locals want to ask the UN to stop Kiev's aggression towards civilians, they said.

The Ukrainian army will besiege the cities of Lugansk and Donetsk in the country's east, in an attempt to make the self-defense forces lay down arms, Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council official told Ukrainian Inter TV channel on Sunday.

"The main strategic plan of the Ukrainian army is to besiege Lugansk and Donetsk," Mikhail Koval, deputy secretary of the Council said. Such measures will force the local "separatists" to lay down arms, he added.

[John Dolva]

Monday, July 7

01:00 GMT:

Police are investigating a shooting in Kiev's Maidan square among pro-Kiev activists that have resulted in three deaths, Unian reports.

3 people dead after shooting on #Maidan pic.twitter.com/0Iw1IW1tdM

— Babay (@Truth_Seeker_11) July 6, 2014

"Today, at about midnight a conflict between persons calling themselves Maidan self-defense activists escalated into a gunfight on the square,” the agency cites a police source. One other person has received wounds to his stomach and is now in a hospital.

Sunday, July 6

21:05 GMT:

Tripartite contact group of senior representatives from Ukraine, Russia and the OSCE expressed the need to urgently take concrete measures for the peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian domestic crisis, and to hold the next round of consultations as soon as possible.

“On the basis of President Poroshenko’s Peace Plan and of the Joint Declaration of four Foreign Ministers adopted in Berlin on July 2, 2014, the Contact Group underlined that it was a matter of urgency to make concrete progress towards a peaceful settlement of the crisis,” the OSCE said in a statement following the meeting in Kiev.

[John Dolva]

Following Kiev’s success in the city of Slavyansk, once a separatist stronghold, it will be extremely difficult for President Poroshenko to return to any kind of ceasefire, Mark Sleboda, an international affairs lecturer at Moscow State Uni, told RT.

After the ten-day shaky ceasefire between Kiev and militia in rebel Eastern Ukrainian regions ended on June 30, fighting has intensified bringing the regime its first significant victory on Saturday. The military forced self-defense troops from the cities of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk in what Kiev labeled a “symbolic” victory in the ongoing conflict.

According to Mark Sleboda, no ceasefire ever existed on the ground in the first place - it was only a PR move by President Petro Poroshenko. However now, after the self-defense troops retreat from the cities they controlled for three months, a new ceasefire is very unlikely, particularly since the “fanatics” Poroshenko depends on to retain power are strongly against it.

RT: How much of a turning point in the conflict is the retaking of Slavyansk by the Ukrainian army?

MS: First of all, what we have to consider is – as Mark Adomanis, a writer for Forbes just wrote today in one of his columns – it doesn’t mean that anyone is winning or losing in the Ukrainian civil war, the conflict. This is far too early to say.

However, we can look at what happened in Slavyansk and the retreat from towns such as Kramatorsk and the other outer ring of towns that defended Lugansk and Donetsk from a purely military and a tactical point of view. We can see that this could be actually considered a draw or a small success for the self-defense forces. They managed to withdraw most of their arms and forces from an encircled position in good order and draw them back to a much more defendable position with a much larger body of volunteers to support and that is much easier to supply than Slavyansk was. Slavyansk, in their own words, served its purpose as a delaying shield. Basically, the entire military might of this Ukrainian regime supported by the West was focused for three months on a small town of 120,000 people.

From a political and moral or morale point of view, the retreat from Slavyansk is a huge defeat and a huge victory that will be paraded on the cameras by this oligarch ruler of the regime in Kiev, Petro Poroshenko. He’s already raised the Ukrainian flag over the retaken government buildings in Slavyansk. And this will be presented as at least an initial, the first real success of his state terror mass repression campaign across the eastern Ukraine. And it will be a big morale disheartening blow not only to the people of Eastern Ukraine, but also to ordinary Russians.

RT: What could locals there expect now? At least some calm?

MS: No, not at all. I don’t think we can really expect seriously to see that at all. We’ve already seen videos of online today of residents of Slavyansk confronting the occupiers of their town and yelling “Fascists, go away!” And they were not treated very kindly in return. We have seen some very grim results in the previously occupied towns – such as Nikolayevka or Krasny Liman. Most of the young and middle-aged men are rounded up; what exactly is being done with them – whether they are being executed or taken off is not entirely known.

We heard the Defense Minister of Ukraine several weeks ago - speak openly and without even any attempting to hide it – that all of the citizens of eastern Ukraine when these towns and cities are re-conquered would be taken to “filtration camps”. Not even really trying to hide the connection with the (Nazi) concentration camps, of course.

RT: Wait a second. The Defense Minister said there will be concentration camps?

MS: He said there would be “filtration camps”. What I am saying is that there is no real difference between filtration and concentration camps. It’s one word denoted propaganda difference between the two of them. This is not controversial or questionable – this was reported live on TV. The Ukrainian Defense Minister stated this. The really shocking and disturbing this is that there has not been any outcry from the Western press about this.

RT: The National Guard says it will search for those who refuse to lay down arms and question them. How do you expect they'll be treated?

MS: I don’t think that there’s any secret that the National Guard – this paramilitary force composed mostly of the radicals of the Euro-Maidan, ultra-nationalist groups as well as international fascist brigade as Al-Jazeera has interviewed and reported earlier - suffered very heavy losses over the past three months in the siege of Slavyansk and other towns. They have shown previously in other towns that they are out for a little bit of revenge. And people in these towns certainly do not treat them as liberators or heroes, but, as they described them, “fascist occupiers.”

The report out this morning is that they are already going door to door looking for people who might have remained behind, who helped or are perceived as having helped the self-defense forces. And the locals say they are being executed.

RT: Hopes for peace took a blow when President Poroshenko refused to extend the truce. Is a lasting ceasefire still possible?

MS: Poroshenko has unilaterally declared a ceasefire that never in fact existed on the ground, it was simply a PR move to present to the EU in the week in the run-up to the signing of this new liberal EU association agreement. It never happened on the ground; the artillery shells, the air-strikes never stopped falling on the people of eastern Ukraine. There wasn’t any ceasefire before; there certainly won’t be any now. It will be perceived as that the regime won a military victory. And earlier in the last week, we saw the ultra-nationalists and fascists gather on the Maidan protesting for the resumption of the war and against the ceasefire.

So, domestically, with the base of fanatics that Petro Poroshenko depends on to retain power it would be extremely politically difficult for him to now, after having seen as one a first initial military victory, it would be very difficult for him to return to any kind of even false ceasefire.

[John Dolva]

DONETSK, July 07. /ITAR-TASS/. Unidentified gunmen have blasted the first span of a bridge across Seversky Donets River, east Ukraine’s Donetsk regional motor road service stated on Monday.

“The explosion has destroyed the bridge. The bridge was blasted on Krasny Liman-Artemovsk-Gorlovka highway at the settlement of Zakotnoye in Krasny Liman district,” the press service of the regional road service noted.

[John Dolva]

08:53 GMT:

#Ukraine Arrested police officers of #Slavyansk moving to interrogation center. #Donbas pic.twitter.com/13D5QmEcy0

— Vagelis Karmiros (@VagelisKarmiros) July 6, 2014