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The Ukrainian government has announced that it will mount a full-scale military operation to regain control of the east of the country and has set a deadline of 6am on Monday morning for occuppied governmen buildings to be evacuated by armed protesters. An emergency session of the United Nations Security Council late on Sunday night failed to calm a situation that has significantly deteriorated over the past few days. Pro-Russian armed groups have taken over police stations and government buildings in towns and cities across eastern Ukraine, including Donetsk, Makiyievka, Mariupol, Kharkov, Kramatorsk, Yenakievo, Zaporyzhia, and Harcyzsk. This campaign of destabilisation escalated badly in Sloviansk where a gun battle between Ukrainian police forces and armed protesters killed at least one member of the Ukrainian security services. These events followed a failed attempt by the Ukrainian government on Friday to de-escalate the crisis with promises of federalisation and an explicit distinction between non-violent protests and armed occupations of government buildings. It also comes as the quad Russia, the Ukraine, the US and the EU prepare for the first round of direct talks on Thursday in Geneva. Russia has already hinted that the escalating violence has the potential of undermining the Geneva talks and the Kremlin could very well use the ongoing violence as both an excuse not to attend the talks and as a pretext to protect ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers in eastern parts of Ukraine. |
Gun battles are already occurring in some cities. It will be interesting event to watch as the new government sends in troops to tackle the pro-Russian protesters. The country is going to get besmirched either way.