- Title: UKRAINE: Ukrainian militia members killed in clash at checkpoint
- Date: 23rd May 2014
- Summary: BETWEEN DONETSK AND KRASNOARMEISK, UKRAINE (MAY 23, 2014) (REUTERS) SEPARATIST CHECKPOINT ON THE ROAD TRUCK WITH 'EAST BATALLION' WRITTEN ON DOOR BLOOD ON THE TRUCK DEAD BODIES IN CAMOUFLAGE UNIFORMS IN THE BACK OF THE TRUCK PRO-RUSSIAN SEPARATISTS SITTING DOWN ON GRASS MORE OF THE SEPARATIST FIGHTERS ON GRASS
- Embargoed: 7th June 2014 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Ukraine
- Country: Ukraine
- Topics: General
- Reuters ID: LVAEJ3PXTHRRNBD3D4PG5U3S7SO0
- Story Text: Ukrainian separatists, stopped on the main road outside Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, on Friday (May 23) with the bodies of three Ukrainian militiamen they said had been killed in fighting in Karlovka.
A Ukrainian web-based daily, LB.ua, reported that the men arrived aboard a truck emblazoned with "East Battalion" on the side and with St George's colours pinned to the front.
The website published graphic still photographs of the three men with severe wounds.
The site reported the separatists told them that pro-Ukraine militiamen had been killed in Karlovka but did not say if they had been involved in the fighting.
Military sources said armed pro-Russian separatists had ambushed a convoy of Ukrainian self-defence fighters and that a number of them had been wounded.
In a firefight that lasted more than three hours, according to locals, separatists used automatic weapons, snipers and grenade-launchers, according to Semen Semenchenko, commander of the so-called Donbass region battalion, a pro-Ukrainian militia force.
Yuri Bereza, the commander of pro-Ukrainian self-defence forces in a nearby region who had headed to the scene, told Reuters by telephone confirmed the firefight and said his group was evacuating wounded, but he did not say how many.
LB.UA said 9 people had been wounded, including non-fighters and reported that witnesses said around 50 fighters arrived in Karlovka.
The clash, after the deaths of at least 13 Ukrainian servicemen on Thursday in another firefight in the locality of Volnovakha, suggested there would be no let-up in violence in the east during Sunday's election.
Kiev's pro-Western government hopes the election will stabilize Ukraine after mass street protests toppled Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich in February, but the separatists have vowed to prevent the vote going ahead in eastern towns where they have seized control. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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