Ukrainian soldiers hold positions at a checkpoint near the eastern Ukranian city of Slavyansk on May 5, 2014.
Vasily Maximov/AFP/Getty Images
Vasily Maximov/AFP/Getty Images
In the southwest,
Kiev authorities also attempted to reassert control over the key Black
Sea region of Odessa by appointing a new governor there.
Interior
Minister Arsen Avakov gave the death toll on his Facebook page Tuesday,
adding that 20 government troops were also injured during fighting in
Slovyansk, a city of 125,000. It was not exactly clear when the deaths
took place. Gunbattles around the city Monday were the interim
government’s most ambitious effort to date to quell weeks of unrest in
Ukraine’s mainly Russian-speaking east.
Avakov
said Monday about 800 pro-Russia forces in and around Slovyansk were
deploying large-caliber weapons and mortars and there were injured on
both sides.
By Tuesday morning, Ukrainian
forces had taken hold of a key checkpoint north of the city, dealing a
blow to insurgent lines of communication. The checkpoint had come under
repeated attack since the government offensive began.
In
Donetsk, a major city 120 kilometers (75 miles) south of Slovyansk,
international flights were suspended Tuesday. The Donetsk airport said
the cancellations followed a government order.
Ukraine
is facing its worst crisis in decades as the polarized nation of 46
million tries to decide whether to look toward Europe, as its western
regions want to do, or improve ties with Russia, which is favored by the
country’s many Russian-speakers i2n the east. Dozens of government
offices and police stations in eastern Ukraine have been seized by armed
insurgents and anti-government crowds over the past several weeks.
The
central government attempted to re-establish control Tuesday over the
predominantly Russian-speaking region of Odessa, where 46 people died
Friday after a pro-Ukraine march led to shootings and fighting between
the two sides. In the melee, a building fire broke out, killing many.
In
a statement published on the president’s website, the Kiev authorities
announced they were firing the acting governor and replacing him with
member of parliament Ihor Palytsya. On Saturday, Odessa’s police chief
was fired.
The
concern that Odessa could be the next region to fall to pro-Russian
forces – particularly after 67 people detained in Friday’s rioting were
released by the police under pressure from an angry crowd – has sparked
concern in Kiev. The government sent an elite national guard force to
Odessa, where it could be seen Monday patrolling the streets.
The
goals of the pro-Russian insurgency are ostensibly broader powers of
autonomy for the region, but some insurgents do favor separatism or even
joining Russia.
Leaders of the anti-government
movement say they plan to hold a referendum on autonomy for eastern
regions on May 11, although no visible preparations for the vote have
yet been seen.
The Russian Foreign Ministry has
put the blame for the unrest squarely on the interim government in
Kiev, which it says “stubbornly continues to wage war against the people
of its own country.” The ministry has urged what it called the “Kiev
organizers of the terror” to pull back their troops from the east and
hold peaceful negotiations to resolve the crisis.
Ukraine
authorities blame Moscow for fomenting the unrest in the east, saying
it’s an attempt to derail Ukraine’s May 25 presidential election.
Ukraine’s former president fled to Russia in February after months of
protests against his government.
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