Ukraine’s acting defense minister said yesterday that his forces had “completely cleared” parts of the separatist east from pro-Russian rebels, who have been waging a deadly insurgency since early last month.
“Our armed forces have completed their assigned missions and completely clear the southern and western parts of the Donetsk region and the northern part of the Lugansk region from the separatists,” acting Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Koval told reporters.
The move came after the devastating blow to Ukraine’s armed forces, in which rebels shot down a troop helicopter on Thursday, killing at least 12 soldiers, including General Serhiy Kulchytskiy, who the Interfax news agency said had once served in the Soviet army and was in charge of training Ukraine’s National Guard.
The loss underscored the challenge Ukrainian forces face in fighting a guerrilla-style insurgency that has proven to be an agile foe.
In remarks to parliament in Kiev, Ukraine’s acting president Oleksandr Turchynov said that the Mi-8 helicopter was downed on the outskirts of Slovyansk by rebels using a portable air defense missile.
Slovyansk, a city of 120,000 people, has become a focal point for the insurgency and has for weeks been encircled by Ukrainian troops.
Turchynov said that the helicopter was rotating troops into a checkpoint when it came under rebel fire.
Separately, Ukraine announced that president-elect Petro Poroshenko will be sworn in on Saturday next week, less than two weeks after his overwhelming victory in special balloting that was hoped would ease tensions in the deeply divided country.
Also on Thursday, US defense officials said that Russia had pulled most of its forces away from the Ukraine border, with only about a couple of thousand troops remaining out of an original 40,000.
The US had been demanding Russia’s withdrawal for weeks.
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