May 2, 2014

A number of pro-Russia rebels were killed and injured this morning in a Ukrainian military offensive in the separatist stronghold of Slovyansk. Speaking to media representatives in Kiev, interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov confirmed that government forces were tightening a cordon around Slovyansk, with the object of retaking control of the city.

Earlier in the day two Ukrainian army helicopters were shot down, killing a pilot and a serviceman. The self-appointed mayor of Slovyansk, Vyachislav Ponomaryov, claimed that his forces had brought down the helicopters. Ponomaryov stated that the helicopters had fired missiles into the city. His assertions remain unconfirmed.

Ukrainian military forces today launched an offensive against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. (World Book map; map data © MapQuest.com, Inc.)

In Moscow, the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin strongly denounced the offensive, declaring that Ukraine has effectively destroyed “all hope” for a plan, negotiated last month in Geneva, Switzerland, to defuse growing tensions. While Putin called for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council, a Kremlin spokesperson repeated Putin’s recent warning that he reserves the right to intervene militarily in eastern Ukraine to protect the interests of its ethnic-Russian residents.  Speaking to German Chancellor Angela Merkel yesterday by telephone, Putin demanded that the Ukrainian government withdraw all troops from eastern Ukraine. Russia has 40,000 troops massed along the Ukrainian border.

For additional information on the Ukrainian crisis, search Ukraine articles under Archived Stories.

Additional World Book article:

• Russia in the Post-Soviet World (a special report)