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| Separatist Leader Says 50 Militiamen Died in Ukraine Attack | Separatist Leader Says 50 Militiamen Died in Ukraine Attack |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| DONETSK, Ukraine — The prime minister of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, a separatist group that controls this eastern region of Ukraine, said on Tuesday that about 50 pro-Russian militiamen had been killed the day before in heavy fighting with Ukrainian forces for control of a crucial airport. | DONETSK, Ukraine — The prime minister of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, a separatist group that controls this eastern region of Ukraine, said on Tuesday that about 50 pro-Russian militiamen had been killed the day before in heavy fighting with Ukrainian forces for control of a crucial airport. |
| The Ukrainian military conducted a major operation on Monday to take back the airport, which militants had only seized a few hours before. It was the first aggressive move against the fighters and came just one day after a national election in which a Ukrainian billionaire, Petro O. Poroshenko, won in a landslide. Mr. Poroshenko has pledged to take on the separatists, whom he has compared to Somali pirates. | The Ukrainian military conducted a major operation on Monday to take back the airport, which militants had only seized a few hours before. It was the first aggressive move against the fighters and came just one day after a national election in which a Ukrainian billionaire, Petro O. Poroshenko, won in a landslide. Mr. Poroshenko has pledged to take on the separatists, whom he has compared to Somali pirates. |
| Alexander Borodai, the premier of the Donetsk People’s Republic who has been a central player in the motley collection of separatist leaders, said that while the pro-Russian fighters’ casualties were high, so were those of the Ukrainian military. | Alexander Borodai, the premier of the Donetsk People’s Republic who has been a central player in the motley collection of separatist leaders, said that while the pro-Russian fighters’ casualties were high, so were those of the Ukrainian military. |
| “This is war,” he said. “Our losses are serious. But our opponents losses are not less, and maybe even more.” | “This is war,” he said. “Our losses are serious. But our opponents losses are not less, and maybe even more.” |
| Around noon on Tuesday, fighter jets resumed their flights over the airport area and shooting started up again, signaling a renewed push that indicated that the Ukrainian forces did not fully control the area. | |
| The military had issued a warning to separatists on Monday to vacate the airport and attacked them around midday using helicopters and fighter jets when they did not comply. | |
| “Kiev is giving us some kinds of ultimatums,” Mr. Borodai said. “Let them keep giving them.” | “Kiev is giving us some kinds of ultimatums,” Mr. Borodai said. “Let them keep giving them.” |
| The mood had lightened somewhat in the area around the airport a day after the violent clashes. Streets were largely empty and the direction of events was unpredictable. One area of fighting was quiet, with a few villagers sitting nearby, and some of the men, shirtless in the heat, drinking beer. Two empty ammunition boxes were seen near the scene of yesterday’s battle. | |
| Apart from the airport, Donetsk was quiet on Tuesday. Pictures circulated on social media of a Kamaz truck that had been blown up, reportedly by the Ukrainian military, and was said to have contained separatists. | |
| At the Donetsk train station, an announcer over a loudspeaker told passengers to wait in an underground passageway. She said that tickets were no longer for sale to points outside the Donetsk region and that trains were running several hours late. | |
| One family standing with their two deaf daughters who study at a special school for the deaf here had been waiting in the underground passageway for two hours for a train that would take them back to their hometown. The school was closed after yesterday’s shooting. | |
| “I have no words for this,” said Nikolai, their father, as his two daughters, ages 11 and 16, looked on. He declined to give his full name, fearing for his safety. “What will happen to us?” | |
| At the bus station near the airport, drivers said they were finding new routes around what apperaed to be new military maneuvers. Locals were angry at the Kiev government for what they said was a military attack on their homeland. | |
| “They call us terrorists but they are the ones who have come to our home, our land to fight,” said Vadim Voit, a driver who said that he took part in a battle against Ukrainian soldiers last week in nearby Volnovakha, standing outside his small passenger bus at the depot. | |
| “Kiev is just not listening to us,” he said. “We can’t make peace with them now.” |