15 Killed in Slavyansk clashes: Ukraine
Iran Press TV
Sat May 3, 2014 9:13PM GMT
Fifteen people have been killed during clashes between radicals and pro-Russians in the eastern city of Slavyansk, a representative of the city's self-defense forces says.
The clashes broke out on Saturday after the departure of observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
According to the representative, only four people were armed and the others were peaceful citizens.
Police officers believe that militants from the Right Sector 'could have provoked a new round of hostilities.'
Earlier today, OSCE observers held in eastern Ukraine were released.
Pro-Moscow activists detained the foreign mediators together with five Ukrainians on April 25, arguing that they were spying for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Two days later, one of the eight foreign observers, reported to be a Swedish national, was released on medical grounds.
The pan-European security watchdog, OSCE, insists that the team was on a diplomatic mission and was not spying for NATO.
Tensions in Ukraine heightened after the Autonomous Republic of Crimea declared independence from Kiev and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum in March.
The move led to pro-Russian protests in the eastern and southern provinces of Ukraine. The demonstrators keep occupying a number of government, police and other administrative buildings in over a dozen cities and towns in the eastern European country.
HRM/NN/AS
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