Nato to bolster forces in eastern Europe
Source: Guardian
Nato has announced it has decided on a series of immediate steps to bolster its forces in eastern European as pro-Russian militia rolled into towns across eastern Ukraine in armoured vehicles.
"You will see deployments at sea, in the air, on land to take place immediately – that means within days," the Nato secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, told a news conference after the decision was taken by Nato ambassadors.
Nato fighter aircraft will fly more sorties over the Baltic region, allied ships will deploy to the Baltic Sea, the eastern Mediterranean and elsewhere, and allied military staff will be sent out to improve Nato's preparedness, training and exercises, Rasmussen said.
Hours earlier, pro-Russian separatists seized five armoured personnel carriers and a tank from the Ukrainian army, which they then drove in a victory lap through the centre of Kramatorsk in Ukraine's east and on to the nearby town of Slavyansk. The Ukrainian defence ministry confirmed that vehicles had been taken by pro-Russian forces.
Read more: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/16/pro-russian-separatists-seize-ukrainian-armoured-vehicles
Elsewhere there are indications the armoured cars were not seized : they were handed over by the Ukrainian troops.
See 11.23am BST
It looks like the Ukranian attempt to reassert control in Slavyansk has gone awry, with some troops going over to the pro-Russian side. This from Reuters.
At least three armoured personal carriers that were driven in to the eastern Ukrainian city of Slavyansk had been under the control of Ukrainian armed forces earlier on Wednesday, Reuters photographers said.
A soldier manning one of the troop carriers now under the control of pro-Russian separatists identified himself to Reuters as being a member of Ukraine's 25th paratrooper division from Dnipropetrovsk.
He said: "All the soldiers and the officers are here. We are all boys who won't shoot our own people."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/16/ukraine-on-the-brink-live-blog-16-april
A press conference this morning by the government of the independent Republic of Donetsk inside the occupied Donetsk Regional Administration Building.
https://witness.theguardian.com/assignment/529c5106e4b0999a297a93b6/934355
= new reply since forum marked as read
Is NATO now in charge or something?
This just in to go with your nice pic
The Donetsk Region has defined the questions to be put on the May 11 referendum, stated regional Councilor Irina Popova. There will be just two of them:
1) Do you support the creation of an independent Donetsk Republic?
2) Of which state should a Donetsk Republic be part of: Ukraine or the Russian Federation?
The Central Election Commission of Donetsk Region has already been allocated a headquarters building next to the regional government administration and is currently forming the list of members.
http://rt.com/news/eastern-ukraine-army-operation-680/
This is so sad. "He said: "All the soldiers and the officers are here. We are all boys who won't shoot our own people."
It supports the quotes in the articles from RT
Immediately after the column of armored vehicles was blocked near the local market, local residents surrounded the column with a human chain, but did nothing more, Vladimir said.
“Both sides were simply standing there and smoking, waiting for God-knows-what. Then the local militia came to the scene, and asked the locals to step back and started negotiations. The soldiers were asked if they would like to surrender. They thought a little bit – and agreed,” Vladimir said.
The soldiers and civilians started fraternizing very quickly and soon were joking about “coming for a visit without weapons next time.” Many of the soldiers put on St. George’s ribbons, the traditional Russian emblem used to commemorate the Soviet Union’s fight against Nazism in World War II.
The tanks have already been driven away to a safe place by the local militia, the witness said.
...
http://rt.com/news/ukrainian-tanks-kramatorsk-civilians-840/
