Ukraine crisis: no one can expect any mercy from us, says Ponomaryov, as two …
One man wore combat fatigues and the other was in civilian clothes. Their
bodies were lying in a truck, one of them covered with a blanket.
“People jumped out of Jeeps and started shooting at us. They threw stun
grenades. Our people started running in various directions when somebody
shouted ‘down!’ A sniper was shooting those who tried to run into the
village. The first who ran was killed by a sniper right away, then there was
a second dead. There was another man, he was crawling, he wouldn’t get up,
he was just lying there waiting for a wonder,” activist Vladimir said.
“I cannot imagine what would happen if those four vans would pass through
(checkpoint) when people were getting ready to go to church, when they were
just about to start celebrations, when everyone was certain there would be
no attack,” Vladimir added.
Local people were laying flowers at the scene and touching the bodies in a
gesture of farewell.
The reported incident will shake hopes of an Easter truce and a speedy
demilitarisation of the restive region under the Geneva accord worked out
between the United States, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union.
A self-styled mayor of Slaviansk and a pro-Russian supporter Vyacheslav
Ponomaryov, who also believed the attackers were Ukrainian
ultra-nationalists, said from now on his fighters will have no mercy for
anyone.
“There was an attack on our checkpoint near Bylbasovka (village). Three
of our people died as a result of attack. On their side we can so far see
one dead. But our fighters tell us they also carried losses apart from this
one dead whose body is in our possession.”
“Until today these were just clashes with minimal losses, but now no one
can expect any mercy from us.”
Monitors from the OSCE human rights watchdog have moved into the area to try
to persuade pro-Russian separatists to lay down their arms.
Armed separatists are in control of Slaviansk, one of around 10 points in the
Russian-speaking east of Ukraine where localised rebellions have broken out
against Kyiv’s pro-Western leaders following Yanukovich’s overthrow.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov had no word of the reported incident on his
Facebook page, where he usually posts updates on any clashes.
The rebels, in an action which Kyiv’s new rulers say is inspired and organised
by Moscow, have occupied state buildings including police headquarters and
state security offices in several localities in eastern Ukraine and declared
support for an independent “Donetsk people’s republic”.
Source: Reuters