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Authorities in Ukraine on Sunday said government forces reclaimed a television tower during a security operation to quell pro-Russian rebel activity in the eastern town of Kramatorsk.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a statement on his Facebook page that a new assault to reclaim control over the town by the National Guard and armed forces began at dawn.

The city saw a standoff Saturday that culminated in insurgents setting buses alight to ward off attacks. Russian state television has reported 10 deaths, including two among government forces, during clashes in Kramatorsk so far. Those figures could not be independently confirmed.

At least 12 government armored personnel carriers were spotted driving through the town Saturday, although they appeared to have returned to their base at a military airfield on the edge of the city by day's end.

Efforts to counteract the insurgency have focused mostly on the nearby town of Slovyansk; authorities are currently seeking to form a security cordon around that city.

The blockade has already resulted in a spate of panic-buying in the city with long lines forming outside grocery stores.

Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly claimed victories in capturing checkpoints surrounding the city, although such boasts have often proven overstated.

Government buildings have been seized by pro-Russian forces in more than a dozen or so cities and town across eastern Ukraine.

Andriy Parubiy, secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said an "anti-terrorist operation" will be carried out in towns beyond Slovyansk and Kramatorsk, according to Interfax-Ukraine news agency.

Traffic around the Donetsk region, where the insurgency is strongest, has been impeded by a proliferation barricades manned by men armed variously with sticks, automatic rifles and handguns.

Originally posted here:
Ukraine Claims Advances on Rebel-Held Positions

Ukraine resumed a military offensive against pro-Russian forces in the country's east on Saturday, as military observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe who were held for more than a week were released.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said Ukrainian forces had seized control of a television tower in Kramatorsk, near the rebel stronghold of Slovyansk where at least three were killed in fighting on Friday, Reuters reported.

"We are not stopping," Avakov wrote on his Facebook page early Saturday.

News reports claimed additional fighting broke out in the city of Kramatorsk, south of Slovyansk, on Saturday.

Tensions were especially high 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 two sides in which at 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.

The city's police chief, Petr Lutsyuk, issued a statement calling for calm in the city of about 1 million, but hours later he was fired by Avakov.

There were also signs of a desire for revenge. A page appeared on Vkontakte, a Russian analogue of Facebook, showing photos and stating home addresses of people allegedly responsible for the fire deaths. In Donetsk, the largest city in the insurgent east, demonstrators who stormed the local office of the Ukrainian Security Service on Saturday shouted, "We will not forgive Odessa."

Peskov, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said the bloodshed demonstrated the acting government's tolerance of or collusion with nationalist extremists and had driven efforts to resolve the crisis into a dead end.

Russia's Foreign Ministry said the fatal fire was "yet another manifestation of the criminal irresponsibility of the Kiev authorities who indulge insolent radical nationalists ... which are engaging in a campaign of physical terror" against those in Ukraine who want more autonomy for the pro-Moscow regions.

Meanwhile, insurgent leader Vyacheslav Ponomarev announced Saturday that all seven military observers and their five Ukrainian assistants had been released.

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Ukraine expands offensive against pro-Russia forces- VIDEO: Kerry urges Russia to end backing of Ukraine insurgents ...

Kostyantynivka (Ukraine) - Ukraine vowed on Sunday to broaden its "anti-terrorist" operation against pro-Russian rebels, as the crisis-hit country marked its second day of mourning after violence that left more than 50 dead.

National Security and Defence Council chief Andriy Parubiy said the armed forces would expand the "active stage of the operation in other towns where extremists and terrorists are carrying out illegal activities".

AFP reporters near the eastern town of Kostyantynivka, where rebels seized the town hall on April 28, saw a pro-Russian checkpoint abandoned and smouldering and barricades being hastily erected in the centre.

Rebels defending the town hall behind makeshift barriers told AFP there had been fighting overnight near the town's television tower.

On Saturday, fierce gun battles erupted around the flashpoint town of Slavyansk as the authorities stormed rebel-held checkpoints in a bid to tighten the noose around what has become the epicentre of pro-Russian fervour.

Central Slayvansk appeared relatively calm on Sunday morning but citizens reported increasing difficulty obtaining basic foodstuffs in the besieged town of 160,000 people.

Meanwhile, seven European inspectors from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe arrived home late Saturday after an eight-day ordeal in captivity, a small chink of light in the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.

Interim president Oleksandr Turchynov declared two days of mourning on Saturday after brutal violence in Odessa claimed 42 lives and at least 10 died in military operations around Slavyansk.

The scenic Black Sea port of Odessa was bracing for fresh violence as supporters of the Western-backed government in Kiev planned a fresh march amid fears it could be disrupted by pro-Russian militants.

The city was still reeling from horrific violence on Friday when deadly clashes between the two sides culminated in a building fire that left 38 dead, most overcome by fumes, others from jumping from windows in a desperate bid for survival.

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Ukraine expands 'anti-terrorism' op against pro-Russians

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