Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine release Red Cross workers
By
our dpa-correspondent and Europe Online
Moscow (dpa) – Nine Red Cross workers were released Saturday by
pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, a day after the eight
Ukrainians and one Swiss national were detained, the aid group said.
“Now they will take up their humanitarian work and prepare a medical
evaluation,” International Committee of the Red Cross spokesman David
Pierre Marquet said.
Their capture in the volatile eastern province of Donetsk occurred as
security forces clashed with armed pro-Russian separatists in the
port city of Mariupol near the Russian border.
Local authorities said seven people were killed and about 50 injured.
The government in Kyiv said security forces killed about 20
pro-Russian militants.
Kyiv has sent in forces in a bid to reassert control of the restive
east, inflaming the pro-Russian faction. On Saturday, the National
Guard withdrew from central Mariupol, which was largely calm.
About 3 million residents of Donetsk and the province of Luhansk have
been asked to vote Sunday on whether they want to stay part of
Ukraine.
The vote comes after a March referendum organized by pro-Russian
authorities in Crimea led to its annexation by Moscow.
That vote has not been recognized by Kyiv or internationally.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday visited the Crimean port
Sevastapol to mark the anniversary of the 1945 Soviet victory over
Nazi Germany.
The government in Kyiv, NATO and the United States condemned his
visit as a provocation.
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