Armed men attack, torch Ukraine hockey stadium
(USA TODAY) – Armed men, believed to be pro-Russian rebels, stormed and set fire to a major ice hockey stadium in the eastern city of Donetsk Tuesday and border guards reported battles with insurgent trying to bring weapons into Ukraine from Russia.
The Druzhba arena, home to the Donbass club, had been earmarked to host several games during the 2015 world championships.
The attacks were the latest in an upsurge in fighting as Ukrainian anti-terrorist troops mount a major campaign against rebels in the wake of the weekend election of a new Ukrainian president, candy magnate Petro Poroshenko, who has vowed to negotiate a peaceful end to the crisis.
After a daylong battle at Donetsk International Airport, both sides claimed Tuesday that they were in control of at least parts of the facility.
In the neighboring Luhansk region, also a heavily ethnic Russian area, the Ukrainian Border Guards Service said that its officers engaged in a gunbattle with a group of gunmen trying to break through the border from Russia. It said one intruder was wounded and the border guards seized several vehicles loaded with Kalashnikov assault rifles, rocket grenade launchers and explosives.
The press service of the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine said in a statement that up to 40 trucks carrying armed men are concentrated o the Russian side of the border, as far back as 6 miles, ready to enter Ukraine, the Kyiv Post reports.
“The anti-terrorist operation cannot and should not last two or three months,” Poroshenko said Monday. “It should and will last hours.”
The Kyiv Post, citing a Facebook post by Pavlo Hubarev, who refers to himself as the “people’s governor of the Donetsk People’s Republic,” reports that 35 militants loyal to Moscow were killed when a truck they were traveling in was hit by a grenade.
Many of the killed Russian-backed fighters were riding together in a truck that was hit Monday either by artillery or rocket-propelled grenades from Ukrainian army helicopters, the newspaper reports. The truck was destroyed. Pools of blood were seen in the truck bed.
Vladyslav Seleznyov, spokesman for the Ukrainian anti-terrorist service, confirmed that many armed “terrorists” were killed, but would not provide an official number. However, the Donetsk mayor confirmed at least 40 deaths and Kyiv Post says its reporters counted even more.
Seleznyov confirmed the presence of foreign fighters, many from the Caucasus region of Russia.
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“The anti-terrorist operation cannot and should not last two or three months,” Poroshenko said Monday. “It should and will last hours.”
“The anti-terrorist operation cannot and should not last two or three months,” Poroshenko said Monday. “It should and will last hours.”