Russian journalist killed in east Ukraine: employer

MOSCOW: A journalist with Russian public television has been shot dead in east Ukraine where pro-Moscow separatists are battling Ukrainian forces, the media worker´s employer Channel One said Monday.

Anatoly Klyan, a 68-year-old cameraman, was among a group of Russian journalists on a reporting trip with the insurgents, the TV channel said.

"Once on site, shots rang out from the soldiers´ side. Anatoly Klyan was mortally wounded in the stomach," said the channel.

The driver of the bus transporting the journalists was wounded and in hospital on Monday morning, said a reporter from Russian news channel Rossiya 24.Klyan had worked 40 years for the Russian channel and had carried out several missions in difficult conditions, his employer said.

On June 17, two members of a Russian television crew were killed in the ex-Soviet state´s separatist east. They were the first Russian media workers confirmed to have died in eastern Ukraine since fighting erupted there in mid-April.

Italian photographer Andrea Rocchelli and his Russian assistant Andrei Mironov were killed also killed in the restive region in late May.

US, EU pressure Putin to save shaky Ukraine truce

KIEV: US and EU leaders have heaped pressure on Russian president Vladimir Putin to help his Western-backed counterpart in Ukraine end a separatist insurgency, as the clock ticks down on a shaky truce.

US President Barack Obama warned Wednesday that additional sanctions would be in store if Russia does not move swiftly to reduce tensions in restive eastern Ukraine.

In a telephone call with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, Obama also vowed he would press Russia to persuade separatist groups to abide by the fragile ceasefire agreement and "stop the flow of weapons and militants across the border", the White House said.

Kiev and Washington still accuse Putin of covertly arming the rebels in retaliation for the February ouster of a pro-Russian administration.

US Secretary of State John Kerry echoed Obama Wednesday, saying at NATO talks in Brussels that Russia must take "many concrete" steps to de-escalate the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.

Rebel commanders had agreed Monday to a temporary ceasefire set by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

However Poroshenko on Tuesday night threatened to unleash a powerful new military campaign after the downing by a pro-Russian militia of an army helicopter, killing nine servicemen outside the rebel bastion of Slavyansk, and the loss of two troops in sporadic attacks.

The 48-year-old chocolate tycoon´s ominous warning dented hopes of the sides mediating an end to 11 weeks of guerrilla warfare that has killed more than 435 people and brought the nation of 46 million to the brink of collapse.

The truce is set to end Friday after just two rounds of inconclusive talks. Poroshenko joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande for an urgently-agreed conference call with Putin Wednesday, which Paris said lasted more than an hour.

The French presidency said Hollande and Merkel "encouraged" Putin and Poroshenko to "work together, especially in order to put in place a mechanism to oversee the truce".

Poroshenko´s office added that the four agreed to continue the talks on Thursday in order to discuss a series of proposals made by Merkel that may be difficult for the Kremlin to accept.

US warns Russia against sending troops into Ukraine

WASHINGTON: The United States warned Friday it would not accept any use of Russian troops in Ukraine as it confirmed that Moscow had redeployed "significant" military forces near the border.

"We are monitoring the situation carefully. We will not accept the use, under any pretext, of any Russian military forces in eastern Ukraine," said Josh Earnest, a White House spokesman.

"Reports from Moscow that the Russian defense ministry is considering creating military cordons in eastern Ukraine are also troubling.

"A Russian defense ministry source told RBK news agency this week that troops were prepared to enter Ukraine´s insurgent regions in order to "put up barriers between the civilian population and the Ukrainian army.

"Ukrainian officials have separately told EU and G7 teams in Kiev that they have evidence of 10 additional tanks and sealed trucks coming over the border close to Lugansk in the past 24 hours.

"We have our own information that Russia has redeployed military forces to its border with Ukraine," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters.

"This is the closest Russian troops have come to the Ukrainian territory since their invasion of Crimea.

"Moscow has annexed the southern Ukrainian peninsula, after invading the territory earlier this year.

Ukraine´s Western-backed President Petro Poroshenko meanwhile declared a weeklong unilateral ceasefire to give pro-Russian rebels a chance to disarm and released a sweeping peace plan for curbing the uprising.

The 14-point initiative came after two calls made by Poroshenko to Russian strongman Vladimir Putin to try to garner his support.

The US Treasury Department blacklisted seven Ukraine separatists, saying their activities threaten the peace and sovereignty of the country.

Topping the list was Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the rebel leader in the eastern separatist stronghold of Slavyansk whose group kidnapped observers from the European security body OSCE in May and continues to hold them.

The US is "confident" that Moscow sent tanks and rocket launchers last week from the deployment site in southwest Russia into eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists are fighting to break away Kiev, Psaki said.

Washington has information that "additional tanks have been prepared for departure" at the same site, she added, saying artillery had also been gathered at a deployment site.

Ukraine inflicts ‘high casualties’ on rebels

KIEV: Ukraine´s interior minister said on Friday that federal forces had inflicted "high casualties" on separatist rebels led by a Chechen commander in the southeastern port of Mariupol.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the "active phase" of the offensive began at dawn and was still raging three hours later.

He added that two Ukrainian soldiers from the part-volunteer National Guard force were wounded in the fighting.

"The terrorists from the Donetsk People´s Republic are being headed by a criminal boss known as ´The Chechen,´" Avakov wrote in a Facebook post.

He said the National Guard unit had destroyed a combat patrol vehicle and several rebel sniper positions.

"The area where the operation is being conducted in central Mariupol has been sealed off," he wrote.

Rebels who seized about a dozen towns and cities in the industrial region of Donetsk and the neighbouring province of Lugansk in early April have proclaimed independence from Kiev and are seeking to join Kremlin rule.

Well-equipped gunmen from Chechnya -- a Muslim Russian republic that fought two post-Soviet wars for independence before falling under Kremlin control -- have appeared in growing numbers among the separatists.

Kiev´s new leaders and its Western allies accuse the Russian authorities of fomenting the fighting and turning a blind eye to the flow of gunmen and equipment across the border and into eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine´s new leader Petro Poroshenko told Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that the reported crossing of three tanks into the east was "unacceptable".

Mariupol witnessed day-long clashes on May 9 that the interior ministry said had claimed 21 lives. Local officials later gave a lower toll.

The two regions have witnessed daily violence that Ukraine´s health ministry said had killed 270 civilians and fighters on both sides.

A car blast late Thursday in the heart of Donetsk destroyed the minibus of regional separatist Denis Pushilin and killed three of his guards, according to the local government in Donetsk.

Pushilin was not present at the scene of the apparent attack.

Poroshenko vowed after his May 25 election to end the fighting by the weekend and launch peace talks with militants who have "no blood on their hands".

But his call was largely ignored by the gunmen and previous rounds of negotiations with eastern officials have failed to make an impact on the ground.

 

Nine killed in Ukraine mine blast

KIEV: Nine miners were killed after a gas explosion ripped through an underground coal mine in eastern Ukraine, authorities said on Friday.

The blast happened before dawn on Thursday at a depth of 300 metres (1,000 feet), located in the eastern city of Kirovsk, the State Emergency Service said in a statement.

Accidents are a regular feature at Ukrainian mines, most of which are located in the country´s industrial eastern region, where pro-Russian rebels now control over a dozen towns and cities.

Many of them are underfunded and poorly equipped, and safety violations are rife.

In the worst accident of its kind in the country´s post-Soviet history, more than 100 miners were killed in an explosion in 2007 at the Zasyadko mine, one of the three biggest in Ukraine.

Ukraine orders civilian corridors in war-ravaged east

KIEV: Ukraine´s new Western-backed president Tuesday ordered the creation of humanitarian corridors in the separatist east that could save civilians and advance his plan to end nearly two months of fighting by the end of the week.

Petro Poroshenko´s initiative meets a major demand put forward by Moscow and helps address growing concern among rights groups about Kiev´s use of tanks and air power in heavily populated areas to suppress the pro-Russian insurgency.

But the 48-year-old chocolate baron and political veteran stopped short of accepting the Kremlin´s request to allow Russian aid into the eastern rustbelt -- a move Kiev fears could be used to help arm the rebels.

"In order to avoid new victims in the zone of the anti-terrorist operation, the president has ordered the responsible ministers to bring about all necessary conditions for civilians who want to leave," Poroshenko´s office said in a statement.

Russia said the decision was "welcome" but left room for concern that Poroshenko might only step up his offensive once civilians leave for safer parts of Ukraine.

"Military operations are continuing and even intensifying in a number of cases," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after meeting his German and Ukrainian counterparts in Saint Petersburg.

But German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he saw "the light at the end of the tunnel" and a "readiness from all sides to act to de-escalate the crisis".

Poroshenko has unveiled plans to end a rebellion that has killed more than 200 and shaken the very foundation of the splintered ex-Soviet state by the end of his first week in office.

The peace push came after the first of what are meant to be nearly daily meetings with Moscow´s ambassador to Kiev and a representative from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The high-stakes negotiations include efforts to stave off a Russian gas cut that would also impact Europe and plunge his economically-devastated country into even deeper recession.

A marathon round of EU-mediated gas talks broke up in Brussels early Tuesday for consultations and another session is due to begin at 1900 GMT.

Ukraine readies for new president amid glimmers of hope

KIEV: Ukraine will swear in its new president Saturday, amid glimmers of hope for a solution to a crisis that has pitted it against its giant Russian neighbour.

Ukraine´s new leader, Petro Poroshenko, will take the oath in Kiev´s parliament the day after he met with Russian President Vladimir Putin, widely seen in Ukraine as the country´s nemesis, during World War II commemorations in northern France.

"The dialogue has begun, and that´s a good thing," Poroshenko said on Ukrainian television after the brief encounter.

He added that a Russian representative would travel to Ukraine for talks Sunday amid the first bilateral steps towards resolving their differences.

Putin and Poroshenko on Friday also jointly called for a ceasefire in the troubled southeast of Ukraine in a potential breakthrough in a crisis that has poisoned Moscow´s relations with the West.

Poroshenko, a 48-year-old billionaire, was elected with 54.7 percent of the votes in presidential elections on May 25.His inauguration ceremony will be attended by a range of foreign VIPs, including US Vice President Joseph Biden and European Council President Herman Van Rompuy.

Poroshenko will assume the presidency as the formal successor of Viktor Yanukovych, who was ousted in February after bloody street fighting in downtown Kiev and who is now living in exile in Russia.

Heavy task ahead
Ahead for Poroshenko lies the tough task of bringing his country closer to Europe, a crucial issue for many who took part in the movement that brought down the previous administration.

He must also try to end the recession that has plagued the country for the past two years, but above all he must unite his country even as it teeters on the brink of civil war.

A step in that direction may have been taken in France, when he shook hands with Putin.

The meeting, on the sidelines of the events in Normandy to mark the 70th anniversary of the D-Day landings, was the first between the two men since Poroshenko won Ukraine´s presidential election.

Moscow had previously said it was ready to work with the new president but stopped short of explicitly recognising him as the legitimate leader of the Ukrainian people.

US President Barack Obama, who also met with Putin in France on Friday, told NBC Nightly News that Russia has to recognise Poroshenko as legitimate if it wants to resolve months of crisis.

"Mr. Putin should be working directly with Mr. Poroshenko and the government of Ukraine to try to resolve differences between the two countries," Obama said.

Russia also needs "to stop financing and arming separatists who have been wreaking havoc in the eastern part of the country," Obama added.

Tensions in southeastern Ukraine have mounted in recent days with the government admitting on Thursday that it had lost control of three border posts that were being routinely attacked by the rebels.

On Friday, insurgents shot down a Ukrainian military cargo plane near Slavyansk, a hotbed of rebel activity. The crew reportedly managed to eject before impact.

Also near Slavyansk on Friday, one police officer was killed and two others injured in a mortar attack.

 

Ukraine says 30 pro-Russian insurgents killed

DONETSK: Ukraine’s Interior Minister said Tuesday that 30 pro-Russian insurgents were killed during operations to expunge anti-government forces in and near a city in the east, while the Kiev authorities attempted to reassert control over the southern region of Odessa by appointing a new governor there.

Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page Tuesday that four government troops also died and 20 were injured during fighting in Slovyansk.

Gunbattles took place at various positions around the city Monday in what has proven the most ambitious government effort to date to quell unrest in the mainly Russian-speaking east.

Avakov said Monday that pro-Russia forces in Slovyansk, a city of 125,000, were deploying large-caliber weapons and mortars in the region and there were injured on both sides. Government troops were facing about 800 insurgents, he said.

In Donetsk, a major city some 120 kilometers south of Slovyansk, international flights from the local airport were suspended Tuesday. The airport said on its website that 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 many Russian-speakers in the east.

Dozens of government offices have been seized, either by armed insurgents or anti-government crowds, over the past several weeks.

The central government attempted to re-establish control Tuesday over the predominantly Russian-speaking Black Sea region of Odessa, where 46 people died after fighting and a fire broke out between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian forces late on Friday.

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. (AP)

30 pro-Russian insurgents killed, says Ukraine

DONETSK: Ukraine´s Interior Minister says 30 pro-Russian insurgents have been killed during security operations to expunge anti-government forces stationed in and near a city in the east.

Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page Tuesday that four government troops also died and another 20 were injured during fighting around Slovyansk.

Ukrainian forces have for days created a security cordon around the city and moved Monday in an apparent attempt to squeeze pro-Russian forces.

Ukraine army expands military ops in east: minister

KIEV: Ukraine´s army on Saturday broadened a military offensive to retake control of rebel-held towns and cities in the chaotic east of the country, the Ukrainian interior ministry said.

"The active phase of the operation is continuing. We will not stop," said Arsen Avakov on his Facebook page.

"Overnight, forces participating in the anti-terrorist operation in Kramatorsk took control of the TV tower that was previously held by the terrorists," added the minister.

Kramatorsk lies some 17 kilometres (10 miles) to the south of the flashpoint town of Slavyansk, where the army mounted a major offensive on Friday that claimed at least nine lives, including two servicemen as rebels shot down a pair of army helicopters.

The dawn raid on Kramatorsk comes after Ukraine suffered its bloodiest day since the Western-backed government in Kiev came to power.

In addition to the nine killed in Slavyansk, more than 30 people died in what Avakov called a "criminal" blaze in the southern port city of Odessa following deadly clashes between pro-Russian militants and supporters of national unity.

The authorities in Kiev have admitted the police are "helpless" to contain the pro-Moscow insurgency that has swept through more than a dozen towns and cities in the eastern part of the country.

The Ukrainian government and the West believe that the Kremlin is fomenting the chaos in a bid to destabilise the former Soviet republic ahead of planned May 25 elections.

Moscow denies the charges and has warned that Kiev faces "catastrophic consequences" if it continues what it sees as a military operation against its own people.

Russia has an estimated 40,000 troops on the Ukrainian border and Kiev has reintroduced conscription and put its armed force on full combat alert, fearing an imminent invasion.

Russia adopts war-time rhetoric in showdown with Ukraine

MOSCOW: Russian official rhetoric has increasingly compared events in Ukraine to the darkest crimes of Nazi Germany, ahead of next week´s anniversary of Soviet victory in World War II.

Since the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, Russian television and officials have made frequent references to the "fascists" Moscow claims are now running Ukraine.

But the latest outbreak of deadly violence has seen the official Moscow propaganda reach new heights, analysts said.

The fire in the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa that claimed at least 42 lives on Friday has been swiftly dubbed a new "reprisal raid" and even the "new Khatyn," a reference to the Belarussian village where 149 residents were burned alive by the Nazis in 1943.

The entire village was punished for the death of a Nazi officer and the Nazi battalion behind the massacre consisted of collaborators including nationalists from western Ukraine.

The Khatyn massacre went down in Russian history books as one of the Nazis´ most brutal "reprisal raids," a term the Kremlin has now adopted to describe the offensive Kiev authorities have launched against pro-Moscow rebels in the flashpoint town of Slavyansk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin´s spokesman on Saturday pointedly referred to the Odessa tragedy as a "reprisal raid," saying "extremists" burned people alive.

State television and officials went even further by overtly likening the Odessa blaze to a Nazi-style massacre.

"What has happened, especially in the Trade Unions House, brings to mind the crimes of the Nazis during World War II," pro-Kremlin lawmaker Leonid Slutsky told reporters in Moscow, referring to the Odessa fire.

"These are the new Khatyn and Auschwitz."A senior official in the pro-Kremlin government of Crimea, Ukraine´s peninsula taken over by Russia in March, chimed in.

"The last time people were burned alive in Ukraine was by the Nazis during the Great Patriotic War," Rustam Temirgaliyev said on Facebook, referring to the Russian name for World War II.

OSCE observers held in Ukraine released

 

AP The head of foreign military observers, Col. Axel Schneider, speaks to the media following his release in Slovyansk, eastern Ukraine on Saturday

Pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine on Saturday released the seven OSCE military observers and five Ukrainian assistants who had been held for more than a week.

The observers were seized on April 25 in Slovyansk, as they travelled with an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe observer team. The insurgents said they possessed unspecified suspicious material and alleged they were spying for NATO.

An observer from Sweden was also seized as part of the team, but was released earlier.

Shortly before the release, the insurgents’ leader in Slovyansk, Vyacheslav Ponomarev, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying he ordered the release because of increasing insecurity in the city.

Two Ukrainian helicopters were reported shot down outside the city on Friday, killing two crew members and the Ukrainian Defence Ministry said two other soldiers were killed in a clash on the outskirts. Mr. Ponomarev said 10 local people were killed in a confrontation with soldiers on Slovyansk’s outskirts, but there was no independent confirmation.

Despite the release, tensions in Ukraine heightened sharply after at least 42 people died in clashes between government supporters and opponents in the Black Sea port of Odessa on Friday. The clash began with street fighting between the two sides, in which as least three people were reported killed by gunfire, then turned into a grisly conflagration when government opponents took refuge in a building that caught fire after protesters threw firebombs inside.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman on Saturday decried the Odessa deaths as evidence that the interim government in Kiev encourages nationalist extremists.

“Their arms are up to their elbows in blood,” Russian news agencies quoted Dmitry Peskov as saying.

Ukraine army expands military ops in east: minister

KIEV: Ukraine´s army on Saturday broadened a military offensive to retake control of rebel-held towns and cities in the chaotic east of the country, the Ukrainian interior ministry said.

"The active phase of the operation is continuing. We will not stop," said Arsen Avakov on his Facebook page.

"Overnight, forces participating in the anti-terrorist operation in Kramatorsk took control of the TV tower that was previously held by the terrorists," added the minister.

Kramatorsk lies some 17 kilometres (10 miles) to the south of the flashpoint town of Slavyansk, where the army mounted a major offensive on Friday that claimed at least nine lives, including two servicemen as rebels shot down a pair of army helicopters.

The dawn raid on Kramatorsk comes after Ukraine suffered its bloodiest day since the Western-backed government in Kiev came to power.

In addition to the nine killed in Slavyansk, more than 30 people died in what Avakov called a "criminal" blaze in the southern port city of Odessa following deadly clashes between pro-Russian militants and supporters of national unity.

The authorities in Kiev have admitted the police are "helpless" to contain the pro-Moscow insurgency that has swept through more than a dozen towns and cities in the eastern part of the country.

The Ukrainian government and the West believe that the Kremlin is fomenting the chaos in a bid to destabilise the former Soviet republic ahead of planned May 25 elections.

Moscow denies the charges and has warned that Kiev faces "catastrophic consequences" if it continues what it sees as a military operation against its own people.

Russia has an estimated 40,000 troops on the Ukrainian border and Kiev has reintroduced conscription and put its armed force on full combat alert, fearing an imminent invasion.

Dozens die in Odessa blaze as Ukraine violence spreads

SLAVYANSK: More than 30 people were killed in a "criminal" blaze in Ukraine´s southern city of Odessa, as violence spread across the country during the bloodiest day since Kiev´s Western-backed government took power.

Ukraine´s interior ministry said at least 31 people had died in the fire Friday, with local media reporting that pro-Russian militants were believed to have been in the burning building at the time.

Most of those who were killed died from smoke inhalation, while others perished trying to escape by jumping out of windows. Russia said it was "outraged" as the scenic port city became a new front in an escalating months-long crisis that has sparked fears of a Russian invasion.

The foreign ministry in Moscow called on Ukraine and its "Western backers to end the anarchy and take responsibility before the Ukrainian people", blaming Kiev´s "criminal irresponsibility" for the sinister turn of events.

It capped a day of violent clashes between pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian militants, with reports of renewed fighting in Slavyansk leading to the deaths of two more Ukrainian soldiers, meaning at least nine people had been killed in violence in the flashpoint eastern town throughout the day.

Already the most serious rupture in West-Moscow relations since the Cold War, the diplomatic war of words intensified as the United States threatened to hit Russia with new sanctions within three weeks over what Washington called its continued "destabilisation" of Ukraine.

President Barack Obama threatened to expand punitive sanctions to broad sections of the Russian economy if Moscow continued to foment chaos in the former Soviet republic ahead of planned May 25 presidential elections.

"If in fact we see the disruptions and the destabilisation continuing so severely that it impedes elections on May 25, we will not have a choice but to move forward with additional... severe sanctions," Obama said at a joint news conference with German Chancellor Angela Merkel."If Russia continues on its current course, we have a range of tools at our disposal, including sanctions that would target certain sectors of the Russian economy."

Previously, the administration had said such measures would only come into force if Russia sent its estimated 40,000 troops over the border.

"Today, the international community must stand together in support of the Ukrainian people as they cope with this tragedy," State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said in a statement mourning the "heartbreaking" loss of life in Odessa.

"The violence and mayhem that led to so many senseless deaths and injuries is unacceptable."

Harf also renewed US calls for "immediate implementation" of a peace deal clinched in Geneva last month.

The unrest in Ukraine started with peaceful demonstrations in Kiev in November against then president Viktor Yanukovych but has rapidly degenerated into a full-blown global crisis.

After a deadly crackdown on protesters, Yanukovych was forced out in February and replaced with the Western-backed administration. That sparked fury in Moscow, which responded with a blitz annexation of Crimea.

Ukraine army expands military ops in east: minister

KIEV: Ukraine´s army on Saturday broadened a military offensive to retake control of rebel-held towns and cities in the chaotic east of the country, the Ukrainian interior ministry said.

"The active phase of the operation is continuing. We will not stop," said Arsen Avakov on his Facebook page.

"Overnight, forces participating in the anti-terrorist operation in Kramatorsk took control of the TV tower that was previously held by the terrorists," added the minister.

Kramatorsk lies some 17 kilometres (10 miles) to the south of the flashpoint town of Slavyansk, where the army mounted a major offensive on Friday that claimed at least nine lives, including two servicemen as rebels shot down a pair of army helicopters.

The dawn raid on Kramatorsk comes after Ukraine suffered its bloodiest day since the Western-backed government in Kiev came to power.

In addition to the nine killed in Slavyansk, more than 30 people died in what Avakov called a "criminal" blaze in the southern port city of Odessa following deadly clashes between pro-Russian militants and supporters of national unity.

The authorities in Kiev have admitted the police are "helpless" to contain the pro-Moscow insurgency that has swept through more than a dozen towns and cities in the eastern part of the country.

The Ukrainian government and the West believe that the Kremlin is fomenting the chaos in a bid to destabilise the former Soviet republic ahead of planned May 25 elections.

Moscow denies the charges and has warned that Kiev faces "catastrophic consequences" if it continues what it sees as a military operation against its own people.

Russia has an estimated 40,000 troops on the Ukrainian border and Kiev has reintroduced conscription and put its armed force on full combat alert, fearing an imminent invasion.

Russia assures US it won’t invade Ukraine

KOSTYANTYNIVKA: Moscow has assured Washington it will not invade Ukraine, the US Defense Department said after the United States and Europe imposed fresh sanctions on Russia over its role in the former Soviet republic.

As Western powers stepped up the pressure on Moscow over the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War, the White House on Monday slapped sanctions on seven Russian officials and 17 firms close to President Vladimir Putin.

The European Union said it was adding 15 names to its own list while Canada added nine names and two banks.

Tensions on the ground in Ukraine spiked when a pro-Moscow mayor was shot and badly wounded and rebels seized another town.

The Pentagon said that Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel had spoken by phone with his Russian counterpart Sergei Shoigu and that "Shoigu reiterated his assurance that Russian forces would not invade Ukraine".

Defense Department spokesman Rear Admiral John Kirby, in a statement, said the two men discussed a range of issues related to the situation in Ukraine, with Hagel requesting clarification of Russia´s intentions in eastern Ukraine.

Hagel urged an end to Russia´s "destabilising influence inside Ukraine and warned that continued aggression would further isolate Russia and result in more diplomatic and economic pressure," Kirby said.

The Pentagon chief also asked for Moscow´s help in securing the release of seven inspectors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe being held in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow said that, during the phone call with Hagel, Shoigu called on the United States to tone down its rhetoric on the Ukraine crisis.

The Kremlin vowed there would be a "painful" response for Washington to the sanctions imposed.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told the Interfax news agency that Moscow was "disgusted" by the US action, which he said showed Washington had "completely lost touch with reality".

 

EU names 15 new Ukraine crisis targets for sanctions

BRUSSELS: The European Union has released the names of 15 new targets of sanctions because of their roles in the Ukraine crisis.

The list released Tuesday includes Gen. Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian General Staff, and Lt. Gen. Igor Sergun, identified as head of GRU, the Russian military intelligence agency.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Kozak and pro-Russian separatist leaders in Crimea and the eastern Ukrainian cities of Lugansk and Donetsk were also on the list.

Mayor of eastern Ukraine city shot

The mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city was shot in the back on Monday and pro-Russia insurgents seized yet another government building as tensions rose in eastern Ukraine ahead of a new round of U.S. sanctions.

In a bid to ratchet up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Barack Obama has promised to levy new sanctions on Russian individuals and companies in retaliation for Moscow’s alleged provocations in eastern Ukraine.

Officials have not commented on the circumstances of the shooting and it was not clear who was behind it. Kernes was a staunch opponent of the pro-West Maidan movement that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February.

Kharkiv is in eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian gunmen have seized government buildings, set up roadblocks or staged protests to demand greater autonomy or outright annexation by Russia.

On Monday, masked militants with automatic weapons seized another city hall building in eastern Ukraine, this time in Kostyantynivka, 160 kilometres from the Russian border.

After the seizure, about 15 armed men guarded the building. Some posed for pictures with residents while others distributed St. George’s ribbons, the symbol of the pro-Russia movement.

Kostyantynivka is just 35 kilometres south of Slovyansk, a major city in eastern Ukraine that has been in insurgents’ hands for more than three weeks now.

Mayor of eastern Ukraine city shot

The mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city was shot in the back on Monday and pro-Russia insurgents seized yet another government building as tensions rose in eastern Ukraine ahead of a new round of U.S. sanctions.

In a bid to ratchet up the pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin, President Barack Obama has promised to levy new sanctions on Russian individuals and companies in retaliation for Moscow’s alleged provocations in eastern Ukraine.

Officials have not commented on the circumstances of the shooting and it was not clear who was behind it. Kernes was a staunch opponent of the pro-West Maidan movement that toppled President Viktor Yanukovych in February.

Kharkiv is in eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian gunmen have seized government buildings, set up roadblocks or staged protests to demand greater autonomy or outright annexation by Russia.

On Monday, masked militants with automatic weapons seized another city hall building in eastern Ukraine, this time in Kostyantynivka, 160 kilometres from the Russian border.

After the seizure, about 15 armed men guarded the building. Some posed for pictures with residents while others distributed St. George’s ribbons, the symbol of the pro-Russia movement.

Kostyantynivka is just 35 kilometres south of Slovyansk, a major city in eastern Ukraine that has been in insurgents’ hands for more than three weeks now.

Ukraine separatists open to swap for OSCE release

 

AP A Lithuanian paratrooper gets to hold a US solder's weapon as the first American troops arrived at the Lithuanian air force base in Siauliai, Lithuania, on Saturday.

A leader for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine said on Saturday that a group of foreign military observers who have been detained as suspected “NATO spies” could be released in exchange for jailed pro-Russian activists.

“They are officers from NATO member states,” said Vyacheslav Ponomaryev, self-proclaimed mayor of the eastern city of Slovyansk. “As we found maps on them containing information about the location of our checkpoints, we get the impression that they are officers carrying out a certain spying mission.”

The German-led, eight-member team was travelling under the auspices of the Organization of Security and Cooperation in Europe when they were detained in Slovyansk.

Germany’s Defense Ministry said it had had lost contact with the team, which it said also included five Ukrainians. Tim Guldimann, the OSCE’s special envoy for Ukraine, told German public radio WDR on Saturday that “efforts are being made to solve this issue.” He declined to elaborate.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on late Friday to press for the release of the observers. A Russian embassy official was also called into the German Foreign Ministry to receive the same message.

Russia’s envoy to the OSCE, Andrei Kelin, told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti in Vienna that Russia was taking “all possible steps” to free the military observers.

With tensions rising in Ukraine, the United States and its partners in the Group of Seven said on Friday night by the White House that they were prepared to impose additional economic sanctions on Russia. The White House said an announcement could come as early as Monday.

The West has accused Russia of using covert forces to encourage unrest in Ukraine, and says Moscow has done nothing to pressure separatist militias to free police stations and government buildings in at least 10 cities across the region.

Condemning Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the G-7 said- “We will now follow through on the full legal and practical consequences of this illegal annexation, including but not limited to the economic, trade and financial areas.”