Shots Fired As Troops Land At Ukraine Airport

Airborne troops have landed at an airport in the eastern city of Kramatorsk as Ukraine launches an “anti-terrorist operation” against pro-Russian separatists.

Shots rang out from inside the air base after Ukrainian troops disembarked from two military helicopters.

Russian news reports say up to 11 people have been killed in clashes at the base.

The RIA news agency quoted Russia’s foreign ministry as saying it is “deeply concerned” about reports of casualties.

“The reports we are getting cause deep concern,” the Russian foreign ministry’s human rights representative, Konstantin Dolgov, was quoted as saying.

“To all appearances, events are beginning to develop under the worst case scenario.”

Ukraine’s Interim President Oleksandr Turchynov says troops have taken control of the facility.

“At the moment a special operation is going on in Kramatorsk,” the Ukrainian defence ministry said.

The state security service has announced that a similar operation is under way in the town of Slaviansk, some 12 miles away.

The two cities are among 10 locations in the Russian-speaking east where separatist rebellions have broken out.

Video footage emerged on Tuesday of a group of separatists stopping a Ukrainian tank and questioning its crew near the village of Rodinskoye.

Mr Turchynov has accused Russia of harbouring “brutal plans” to destabilise the region by backing separatists and refusing to force them to stand down.

“The plans of the Russian Federation were and remain brutal,” he said.

“They want not only for Donbass (Donetsk region), but for the whole south and east of Ukraine to be engulfed by fire.”

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Ukraine was on the verge of civil war.

“I will be brief: Ukraine is on the brink of civil war, it’s frightening,” he said.

Meanwhile, two pro-Russian politicians have been attacked by pro-Western activists as tensions remain high.

Oleh Tsaryov, a candidate in the presidential elections on May 25, was pelted with eggs and beaten as he left a TV studio in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Mikhaylo Dobkin, another Russian-leaning politician, was sprayed with a green disinfectant on Monday night.

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