14:51
4.5.2014
Here's an Odesa update from our news desk:
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arsemiy Yatsenyuk has accused Russia of engineering this week's violence in Odesa that left dozens of people dead.
Speaking on a visit to the southern port city today, Yatsenyuk said the violence resulted from a "well-prepared and organized action against people, against Ukraine and against Odesa."
He also blamed security forces for failing to prevent the bloodshed.
More than 40 people died on May 2 in clashes between pro-Russia rebels and pro-Kyiv protesters.
Most of the victims died in a blaze apparently started by firebombs thrown inside the building where they had sought refuge amid the street fighting.
Russia has accused Yatsenyuk's government of provoking bloodshed in eastern Ukraine with an operation to restore Kyiv's authority in a series of cities under the control of pro-Russia rebels.
Speaking on a visit to the southern port city today, Yatsenyuk said the violence resulted from a "well-prepared and organized action against people, against Ukraine and against Odesa."
He also blamed security forces for failing to prevent the bloodshed.
More than 40 people died on May 2 in clashes between pro-Russia rebels and pro-Kyiv protesters.
Most of the victims died in a blaze apparently started by firebombs thrown inside the building where they had sought refuge amid the street fighting.
Russia has accused Yatsenyuk's government of provoking bloodshed in eastern Ukraine with an operation to restore Kyiv's authority in a series of cities under the control of pro-Russia rebels.
14:51
4.5.2014
The Russian Foreign Ministry decries "dual blockade":
A translation of the original comment posted in Russian on the Foreign Ministry site today:
A translation of the original comment posted in Russian on the Foreign Ministry site today:
At a time when Ukrainian punitive operations are under way in Eastern Ukraine, with some population centers [targeted in security sweeps] and others blockaded, a virtual information blockade has been imposed in the West about the tragic events going on in that country. It is noteworthy that even in the OSCE's circles no one knows that, in Ukraine today, there is bloodshed and troops are firing on unarmed people. What freedom of speech and freedom of the press can one talk about under such conditions?
We demand that the relevant institutions of the OSCE and the Council of Europe immediately give an objective assessment of what is happening in Ukraine.
We demand that the relevant institutions of the OSCE and the Council of Europe immediately give an objective assessment of what is happening in Ukraine.
14:31
4.5.2014
Why do so many Russians seem to dislike the west? Historian Juliane Fuerst tackles the question on the History News Network:
The current rift between Russia and the West is not a conflict in which one side is guilty of aggression and the other is a victim. It is not about whose newspapers write the truth and whose politicians are more hypocritical. It is not even really a rift about the question of Crimean nationhood, Ukrainian government or NATO enlargement. Rather, the current conflict is a culmination of historical processes that shaped Russian attitudes towards the West.
13:57
4.5.2014
13:53
4.5.2014
Interfax reports:
Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has accused the UN Security Council of inaction with regard to punitive operations in southeast Ukraine.
"Not a single country of the United Nations condemned the Ukrainian punitive operation at a time when local people died under rocket fire from Ukrainian helicopters in Sloviansk and when people burned in Odesa in a house set on fire by Right Sector militants. There is not a single conflict that the United Nations would have settled. And it won't in the future as long as the United States is imposing its will by stick and carrot," Kadyrov wrote in Instagram social network.
The Chechen leader noted that for a second time in a day he was forced to express his indignation with the actions of the Ukrainian authorities in cities of Donetsk region and other southeastern regions.
"If militant formations operate in Ukraine and the illegal authorities patronize them, then the results of the UN Security Council discussion of the situation in that country arouse ten-fold indignation. Even before when terrorists shed bloody in Chechnya and the UN remained silent I realized that the organization does not have a stance of its own, its own opinion. Almost all countries at the UN are acting only at the instructions of the USA and Western Europe. And the disagreeing are lining up after Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq," Kadyrov added.
Head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov has accused the UN Security Council of inaction with regard to punitive operations in southeast Ukraine.
"Not a single country of the United Nations condemned the Ukrainian punitive operation at a time when local people died under rocket fire from Ukrainian helicopters in Sloviansk and when people burned in Odesa in a house set on fire by Right Sector militants. There is not a single conflict that the United Nations would have settled. And it won't in the future as long as the United States is imposing its will by stick and carrot," Kadyrov wrote in Instagram social network.
The Chechen leader noted that for a second time in a day he was forced to express his indignation with the actions of the Ukrainian authorities in cities of Donetsk region and other southeastern regions.
"If militant formations operate in Ukraine and the illegal authorities patronize them, then the results of the UN Security Council discussion of the situation in that country arouse ten-fold indignation. Even before when terrorists shed bloody in Chechnya and the UN remained silent I realized that the organization does not have a stance of its own, its own opinion. Almost all countries at the UN are acting only at the instructions of the USA and Western Europe. And the disagreeing are lining up after Afghanistan, Libya and Iraq," Kadyrov added.
13:51
4.5.2014
A correspondent from "Rossiya 24" television reporting from Slovyansk that the city remains "under siege." Says the city is surrounded by the Ukrainian military, that no shots were fired overnight or this morning, but that it "appears some activities will be carried out soon."
Two strategic buildings in the city center -- the security services building and the City Council building -- remain in the hands of "the militia," according to the correspondent. He reports, however, that the militia is trying to change positions.
Two strategic buildings in the city center -- the security services building and the City Council building -- remain in the hands of "the militia," according to the correspondent. He reports, however, that the militia is trying to change positions.
13:43
4.5.2014
13:37
4.5.2014
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4.5.2014
13:33
4.5.2014