Ukrainian and pro-Russian forces flexed their military muscles in the restive east of the country yesterday, a day ahead of high-level diplomatic talks on the escalating crisis.
Armored vehicles from the rival sides appeared on the streets of two neighboring towns after Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that Kiev’s decision to send in troops to put down a separatist uprising in its industrial heartland had dragged the country to the brink of civil war.
NATO said it planned to deploy more forces in eastern Europe in the face of the crisis, while Germany warned of more bloodshed if the four-way talks in Geneva, Switzerland, today fail.
A reporter in the flashpoint town of Slavyansk saw at least six armored personnel carriers and light tanks, some flying Russian flags, parked in the city center with dozens of unidentified armed men in camouflage stationed around them.
Russian media said Ukrainian troops in the vehicles had switched sides to join the separatists, but the Ukrainian army said it had no reports that any of its equipment had been seized.
Authorities in Kiev ratcheted up their verbal attacks on Russia, with Acting Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accusing Moscow of trying to build “a new Berlin wall.”
Yatsenyuk demanded Moscow halt its alleged support for the separatists, but said Kiev remained committed to today’s crunch talks between the top diplomats of Russia, the EU, the US and Ukraine.
Ukrainian Acting Defense Minister Mykhailo Koval yesterday went to check on the progress of Kiev’s seemingly stalled bid to oust the separatists.
Ukraine’s military also pledged a firm response after two serviceman were allegedly taken hostage by pro-Russian forces in the Lugansk region.
The Ukrainian Security Service said in a statement that Russian commanders in the east had issued pro-Kremlin militants with “shoot-to-kill” orders.
Elsewhere, pro-Moscow gunmen stormed the mayor’s office in the regional capital of Donetsk, according to a reporter at the scene.
On Tuesday, authorities in Kiev launched what they called an “anti-terrorist operation,” sending tanks toward Slavyansk — which remains effectively under the control of pro-Russian gunmen — in a high-risk strategy sharply condemned by the Kremlin, but supported in Washington.
The 20 tanks and armored personnel carriers sent to Slavyansk were the most forceful response yet by the Western-backed government in Kiev to the pro-Kremlin militants’ occupation of state buildings in nearly 10 cities across Ukraine’s rust belt.
The move drew a sharp response from Putin in a telephone conversation with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“The Russian president remarked that the sharp escalation of the conflict has placed the country, in effect, on the verge of civil war,” the Kremlin said in a statement.
The Kremlin described the actions of the Ukrainian army in the east as an “anti-constitutional course to use force against peaceful protest actions.”
The White House described Ukraine’s military operation as a “measured” response to an insurgency that had put the government in an “untenable” situation.
TYPHOON: The storm’s path indicates a high possibility of Krathon making landfall in Pingtung County, depending on when the storm turns north, the CWA said Typhoon Krathon is strengthening and is more likely to make landfall in Taiwan, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said in a forecast released yesterday afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the CWA’s updated sea warning for Krathon showed that the storm was about 430km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point. It was moving in west-northwest at 9kph, with maximum sustained winds of 119kph and gusts of up to 155kph, CWA data showed. Krathon is expected to move further west before turning north tomorrow, CWA forecaster Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said. The CWA’s latest forecast and other countries’ projections of the storm’s path indicate a higher
SLOW-MOVING STORM: The typhoon has started moving north, but at a very slow pace, adding uncertainty to the extent of its impact on the nation Work and classes have been canceled across the nation today because of Typhoon Krathon, with residents in the south advised to brace for winds that could reach force 17 on the Beaufort scale as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) forecast that the storm would make landfall there. Force 17 wind with speeds of 56.1 to 61.2 meters per second, the highest number on the Beaufort scale, rarely occur and could cause serious damage. Krathon could be the second typhoon to land in southwestern Taiwan, following typhoon Elsie in 1996, CWA records showed. As of 8pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 180km
TYPHOON DAY: Taitung, Pingtung, Tainan, Chiayi, Hualien and Kaohsiung canceled work and classes today. The storm is to start moving north this afternoon The outer rim of Typhoon Krathon made landfall in Taitung County and the Hengchun Peninsula (恆春半島) at about noon yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said, adding that the eye of the storm was expected to hit land tomorrow. The CWA at 2:30pm yesterday issued a land alert for Krathon after issuing a sea alert on Sunday. It also expanded the scope of the sea alert to include waters north of Taiwan Strait, in addition to its south, from the Bashi Channel to the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島). As of 6pm yesterday, the typhoon’s center was 160km south of
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) is set to issue sea and land warnings for Tropical Storm Krathon as projections showed that the tropical storm could strengthen into a typhoon as it approaches Taiwan proper, the CWA said yesterday. The sea warning is scheduled to take effect this morning and the land warning this evening, it said. The storm formed yesterday morning and in the evening reached a point 620 nautical miles (1,148km) southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, moving west-southwest at 4 kph as it strengthened, the CWA said. Its radius measured between 220km and 250km, it added. Krathon is projected
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