Ukrainian army resumed shelling in Slavyansk
4 June 2014, 09:03 -- The Ukrainian army resumed shelling in Slavyansk and continued military confrontation on Tuesday evening, steadily attempting to lock in the city, self-defense leader told RIA Novosti. 'The situation is very difficult for us. The opponents are constantly using planes against us, 2-3 strike fighters at a time (changing the flights as they work with several airfields) and 6-7 combat helicopters. A squadron of Uragan rocket launchers is headed our way, and Grad rocket launchers already operated in Semenovka today.
The number of self-propelled and conventional howitzers above 122 mm is already well over fifty, I won't even start to count the mortars. The opponent's goal is to close the ring around Slavyansk once and for all,' Igor Strelkov, leader of the Slavyansk self-defense forces, told RIA Novosti. Witnesses report explosions around the Semenovka village in the suburbs of Slavyansk.
There are also shootouts between the independence and security forces at the Kramatorsk airport and the roadblock near the village of Kirovsk. Self-defense headquarters reported end-of-the-day casualties: seven people killed, and around ten injured. Mass anti-government protests began in the south-eastern regions of Ukraine in the end of February 2014 as a response of local residents to the military coup in Ukraine followed by an attempt of new authorities to abolish the law that insured the regional status of Russian language in those areas.
The interim Kiev government launched a military operation in mid-April against against the protesters in the regions, claiming dozens of civilian victims. Moscow has repeatedly condemned the new Kiev authorities for what it called 'a punitive operation' and stressed the need for de-escalation of the Ukrainian crisis
Source: http://voiceofrussia.com/news/2014_06_04/ Ukrainian-army-resumed-shelling-in-Slavyansk-0411/
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