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Ukraine crisis: 11 soldiers reported dead after checkpoint attack Ukraine crisis: At least 14 soldiers reported dead after checkpoint attack
(about 7 hours later)
At least 11 Ukrainian soldiers have been reported dead in an attack in the region of Donetsk just three days before Sunday's crucial presidential elections. At least 14 Ukrainian soldiers were killed and more than 30 wounded in the deadliest attack on government forces since fighting began in the east of Ukraine almost two months ago.
Journalists from the Associated Press saw 11 bodies near a checkpoint on the edge of the village of Blahodatne, near the city of Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine. The attack took place at a checkpoint in the village of Blahodatne, 20 miles from the city of Donetsk, as tensions were running high in the troubled east of Ukraine ahead of presidential elections on Sunday. Kiev has accused Russia of trying to destabilise the country before the vote.
Witnesses on the ground said about 30 Ukrainian soldiers were wounded in the raid, some of them in serious condition. Journalists from Associated Press reported seeing bodies scattered on the road. Photographs showed three charred Ukrainian armoured personnel carriers with their turrets blown away. Other burnt-out vehicles were also visible.
Ukraine's defence ministry confirmed the attack, but did not comment on the number of casualties. A Russian website reported 15 were killed in the raid on Thursday morning. The attack, at dawn, was believed to have been the work of pro-Russian rebels. At a separatist-held police headquarters in Horlivka, a town near the checkpoint, a man describing himself as a rebel commander told journalists his forces were responsible. “We destroyed a checkpoint of the fascist Ukrainian army deployed on the land of the Donetsk Republic,” the balaclava-wearing commander said, giving his name as Bess, which means “demon” in Russian. He showed reporters weapons which he claimed had been taken from the dead Ukrainian soldiers.
A group of rebels claimed responsibility for the attack and showed off weapons they said had been seized in the raid, the AP reported. Their claims could not be independently confirmed by The Independent. The attack at Blahodatne was one of several reported overnight in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine’s interim Prime Minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, called for an emergency session of the UN Security Council and blamed Russia for fomenting the crisis. According to UN estimates, 127 people have died in the violence in the east and south of Ukraine.
Government troops have have clashed with pro-Russian insurgents since April in an attempt to regain control over the regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. Russia has yet again said that it is pulling back its forces from the Ukrainian border, where Nato estimates it has 40,000 men stationed. The Russian defence ministry said four trainloads of weapons and 15 aircraft had already left the area.
Both regions have declared their independence from the central government in Kiev following self-rule referendums earlier this month, which Ukraine and the West have denounced as a sham. The Nato Secretary General, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, cautiously confirmed the troop movements. “We’ve seen limited Russian troop activity vicinity of Ukraine border that MAY suggest that some of these forces are preparing to withdraw”, he wrote on his Twitter account. “Most of previously deployed Russian force remains near the Ukrainian border. We see continued Russian exercises.”
The deadliest attack in weeks comes just days before Ukrainians go to the polls on Sunday to elect a new president following the ousting of Viktor Yanukovych in February. Separatists in Donetsk say they will boycott Sunday’s presidential elections, saying they do not recognise the legitimacy of the vote.
Kiev has admitted it cannot guarantee the safety of voters in the east.
"Provocations by the Russian side in Ukraine are regarded as attempts to disrupt the presidential elections on May 25 and to destabilise the situation in the eastern region of our country," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Earlier this month, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Holland warned that if the 25 May elections fail to go ahead as planned, more sanctions would follow.
The US and the European Union have already imposed travel bans and asset freezes on members of Putin's inner circle over Russia's annexation of Crimea.
They have threatened to target entire sectors of the Russian economy with more sanctions if Moscow tries to grab more land or attempts to derail Ukraine's presidential election.
Additional reporting by AP