Ukraine army helicopter shot down near Sloviansk

BBC News online -- 29 May 2014

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The BBC's Mark Lowen says that the incident is "a huge blow to the Ukrainian military"

Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have shot down a military helicopter near Sloviansk, killing 14 people, the country's outgoing president says.

Olexander Turchynov said the rebels used a Russian-made anti-aircraft system, and a senior general was among the dead.

The town of Sloviansk has seen fierce fighting between separatists and government forces in recent weeks.
President-elect Petro Poroshenko has vowed to tackle "bandits" in the east.

The helicopter was hit during heavy fighting between Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, reportedly after it had dropped off troops at a military base.

President Turchynov said the 14 dead included Gen Serhiy Kulchytskiy, head of combat and special training for Ukraine's National Guard.

It is one of the worst losses of life for government forces in the conflict so far. Last week at least 14 soldiers died in a rebel attack on an army checkpoint near Donetsk, some 130km (80 miles) from Sloviansk.

Earlier this month the separatists shot down two army helicopters, also near Sloviansk, killing a pilot and another serviceman.

Mark Lowen, BBC News, Donetsk

The helicopter had just taken off after transporting soldiers to a Ukrainian base

 

This is a significant blow for the Ukrainian military and the government in Kiev as it pursues what it calls its "anti-terror operation" in the east. Sloviansk, a town taken by the rebels early in this uprising, has long been the epicentre of the heaviest fighting here.
Two other Ukrainian helicopters were downed there at the start of May, a reminder that Kiev is not simply facing an amateur group of fighters here.
This has been a week in which the conflict in eastern Ukraine has escalated. After Kiev launched an air-and-ground assault on separatist groups at Donetsk airport to retake control, the rebels have vowed to regroup.
They hold patches of land and are clearly equipped with significant weapons. When Ukraine's new President-elect, Petro Poroshenko, vows to crush what he calls the "terrorists" within "a few hours, rather than a few months", this latest loss of life illustrates the immense challenge he faces.

Mr Poroshenko, a confectionery magnate, won 54.7% of the vote in last Sunday's presidential election, according to final results announced on Thursday.

After the poll, he called the separatists "terrorists" intent on maintaining a "bandit state". He vowed to tackle them "in hours", not months.

The conflict has intensified in recent days. The rebels say they lost up to 100 fighters when they tried to seize Donetsk airport on Monday.

Alexander Borodai, the separatist leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, said 33 Russian nationals had been among those killed in the airport clashes.

Mr Borodai, himself a Russian citizen, said their bodies had been identified and would be taken to Russia.

Gen Serhiy Kulchytskiy

• Born on 17 December 1963 in East Germany where his father served with a Soviet military contingent
• Began military career as a marine platoon commander at the Soviet Northern Fleet in Murmansk Region
• Moved to western Ukraine in 1992 and became deputy commander of a National Guard battalion in Ternopil
• Awarded the rank of major-general by President Viktor Yanukovych in August 2013

On the same day, pro-Russia militiamen seized four international monitors in Sloviansk.
The four - a Dane, an Estonian, a Turk and a Swiss national - are members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

The self-proclaimed mayor of Sloviansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, told Russia's Interfax news agency they were safe and well and could be released soon.

The OSCE has said it does not know the monitors' whereabouts, but Mr Ponomaryov told another Russian news agency they were being held in the village of Makeyevka.

Pro-Russian separatists in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk declared independence after referendums on 11 May, which were not recognised by Kiev or its Western allies.

The separatists took their cue from a disputed referendum in Crimea, which led to Russia's annexation of the southern peninsula.