Pro-Russian Protesters Storm Donetsk Prosecutor’s Office–Update
By Philip Shishkin
DONETSK, Ukraine–The woman had just delivered homemade sandwiches to her son, a police officer working at the main prosecutor’s office, when he called her with troubling news: He’d gotten hit with a rock on the head and wasn’t feeling well.
The connection was lost before she could figure out where he was. So she rushed back and began searching floor by floor–alongside an unruly crowd of pro-Russian militants who had just seized the building.
“If they find him first, they’ll kill him,” the worried mother said as she hurried down slippery stairs strewed with broken glass. “Maybe he’s in the basement. Where’s the basement?”
The clash in this regional capital left a total 26 people injured, two of them requiring hospitalization, according to the Interior Ministry. It also left the pro-Russian protesters in control of another symbol of authority in the restive region, which is planning to hold a referendum on pulling away from Ukraine in less than two weeks.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called on Ukraine to withdraw its military forces from the southeast of the country–a move that would effectively cede control to the pro-Russian forces that have taken over about a dozen cities in the border area.
So far, the occupations of public buildings in cities like Donetsk haven’t been accompanied by much violence, as demoralized, poorly paid police put up little resistance.
But two days after acting President Oleksandr Turchynov sharply criticized law enforcement in the region, riot police at the prosecutor’s office tried to fend off the occupation using stun grenades and tear gas.
The tactic enraged the relatively small group of protesters who had been celebrating the workers’ holiday of May Day. They attacked the police with rocks, then looted their gear, including riot shields, helmets and truncheons.
One of the police officers, 25 years old, called his mother in the heat of the battle. As she scurried around later trying to find him, she wasn’t alone.
“Come out now, whoever’s there! Otherwise we’ll burn this building down with you inside,” yelled one masked militant, banging on a locked door.
“There is no need to burn the building,” the mother said.
“I’m just kidding,” said the militant.
Eventually, she and her husband found their son in a hospital, woozy but not seriously injured. Blood glistened on the tiled floor at the entrance.The family didn’t want to be identified for fear of reprisals.
The latest seizure highlighted the fledgling national government’s inability to reassert control, more than a week after announcing a military operation against those it calls terrorists.
Ukraine and the West have blamed Russia for instigating the unrest and accused it of sending in elite military-intelligence officers to help organize the rebellion. Ukraine said Thursday it had detained Russia’s navy attaché on suspicion of spying and would expel him, the Interfax news agency reported.
The acting president, Mr. Turchynov, also signed a decree reinstating military conscription.
Mr. Putin has denied allegations of meddling.
In a phone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, he “stressed that the most important thing now is the withdrawal of military forces from the southeastern parts” of Ukraine and to “stop the violence,” according to the Kremlin.
Throughout the day, Russian state television ran reports of what it said was chaos and fighting in Ukraine’s east. It said that the Ukrainian army was being hit by mass desertions and that armored columns were headed into the region from other parts of the country.
Moscow has repeatedly said it is ready to intervene if there is a physical threat to ethnic Russians in Ukraine, and has amassed tens of thousands of troops near the border.
Kyiv says Moscow is running a coordinated disinformation campaign and fears the propaganda is setting the groundwork for an outright invasion.
In the call, Ms. Merkel sought Mr. Putin’s help in securing the release of a German-led team of military observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe who were taken captive last week in eastern Ukraine and accused of being spies. Neither side said how Mr. Putin replied.
Protest leaders have said they would release the OSCE team only in exchange for prisoners tied to the uprising held by Kyiv.
The protesters are demanding independence for an entity they are calling Donetsk People’s Republic, and they plan to hold a referendum on May 11.
Around the region, Ukraine’s industrial heartland, heavily armed and professionally trained pro-Russian militants have seized town halls and police stations, apparently seeking to lay the groundwork for the vote. In the city of Donetsk, protesters have occupied buildings including a television station and the regional government headquarters for weeks.
The latter now serves as the barricaded seat of the Donetsk People’s Republic, and the atmosphere resembles Occupy Wall Street encampments. Initially it drew curious onlookers, but now most residents ignore it.
In fact, much of Donetsk looks like a peaceful, West European city. It is impeccably clean, and its leafy boulevards flanked by elegant architecture feature restaurants and crowded playgrounds.
The day began with a couple-thousand pro-Russian protesters marching along an avenue in a May Day parade. They chanted “Russia,” “republic,” and “Gubarev”–a reference to Pavel Gubarev, the self-declared “people’s governor” now under arrest in Kyiv on separatism charges.
An old sedan topped with a red banner imprinted with Stalin’s face zoomed up and down, blasting a song called “The Russian March” from rooftop speakers. The protesters went to the police headquarters, where after some peaceful negotiation, they were allowed them to hoist their flag. The Donetsk Republic flag is similar to the Russian flag, except the top stripe is black, not white.
Then the crowd moved on to the prosecutor’s office. The riot police refused to surrender the building, and as protesters began throwing rocks, the police responded with stun grenades and tear gas.
Ukraine’s Interior Ministry said the militants shot and wounded one police officer. Agitated protesters rushed the building and began hitting the police and shouting insults. Others tried to shield the officers to allow them to escape, according to witnesses.
Three protesters, including an elderly woman, got hold of a blue-and-yellow Ukrainian flag and began ripping it apart. They later burned it.
Acrid fumes of tear gas still hung in the air at the prosecutor’s office when the frantic mother arrived to search for her son, a native of Donetsk region. He was ordered to deploy to Kyiv in December, as then-President Viktor Yanukovych faced tens of thousands of protesters angered by his decision to spurn a trade and political deal with the European Union in favor of closer ties with Moscow.
The police were often caught up in clashes on the capital’s central square, known as Maidan, as antigovernment protesters burned tires and threw Molotov cocktails.
After Mr. Yanukovych was overthrown in February, the new government had no warm feelings for the Maidan riot police. Some officers were prosecuted for shooting protesters.
When the Donetsk unit returned home, however, they got a hero’s welcome. Though Mr. Yanukovych’s regime was unpopular here too, residents of Donetsk region disliked the new leaders, whom they accused of seizing power in a coup.
In fact, as the militants attacked the prosecutor’s office, much of the resistance came not from locals, but from a unit detached from elsewhere, according to the mother.
“Imagine, he spent two and half months on Maidan, and escaped injury, and he comes home and gets hit on the head by fellow Donetsk guys,” the father said to an ambulance crew outside.
The young officer was released from the hospital, wobbly on his feet, having caught a large cobblestone on the back of his head. He said he’d also been hit with a piece of metal piping. He smoked leaning against the building. Then he used several unprintable epithets to describe his attackers.
Write to Philip Shishkin at philip.shishkin@wsj.com