Ukraine to Resume ‘Anti-Terror’ Operation After Discovery of Two Tortured Bodies
Ukraine’s interim President Oleksander Turchinov has called on security personnel to resume the “anti-terror” operation against pro-Russian protesters following the discovery of tortured dead bodies of two Kyiv officials.
The bodies, which were found in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk, were those of local officials.
Turchinov said: “I demand the resumption of effective counter-terrorism measures to protect Ukrainian citizens in the east from terrorism.”
“The terrorists who basically have taken the entire Donetsk region hostage have crossed the line with torturing and killing Ukrainian patriots,” said the caretaker president adding that such incidents have taken place with the help of Russian forces.
One of the victims has been identified as Volodymyr Rybak, a local councilman representing Turchinov’s political party, who went missing recently.
The bodies of Rybak and the yet-to-be-identified man were found in a river in the Slavyansk region.
“The opposition Horlivka deputy who fought the separatists, and who was kidnapped in Horlivka…was found dead in Siversky Donets [River] near Slavyansk with a backpack filled with sand around his back and ripped stomach…Not Fascists, not separatists… it was scoundrels and carrions [murdered him]… who should be obliterated by any means together with their imperial backers…Heroes never die,” local lawmaker Oleksandr Bryhynets wrote on his Facebook account, reports Kyiv Post.
However, pro-Russian separatists in the region have denied the claims.
The Ukrainian government’s “anti-terror” operation last week largely failed to flush out separatists from government buildings. The Kyiv administration had also scaled down the measures following the Geneva accord.
The accord was ratified by the US, the UK, Ukraine and Russia, but the Western powers and Moscow have been blaming each other for failing to implement it.
“We’ve heard a lot from Russian officials in the past few days. But now it’s time for Russia to stop talking and start acting. We will not allow this to become an open-ended process. Time is short in which to make progress,” US Vice President Joe Biden told a news conference as he was wrapping up his official visit to Kyiv.