One serviceman killed, one injured after explosion in Donetsk region – Defense Ministry
5:45 p.m. — One military serviceman was killed and one injured in an explosion in Donetsk region, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry’s spokesman reported on Monday.
JOIN US ON TELEGRAM
Follow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official.
“During the execution of their official duties in Donetsk region, two servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were injured, and one of them has since died,” said the report posted on the ministry’s website.
The incident happened during daily inspections of artificial obstacles by the soldiers.
“According to preliminary findings, the injuries were caused by explosion of an unknown improvised explosive device,” the report said.
The ministry added that after being given first aid, the injured soldiers were delivered to a military medical clinic in Kharkiv Oblast by a Mi-8 military helicopter. During the flight one of the injured men died as a result of his injuries.
The ministry said that the second soldier is in intensive care. His condition is moderately severe, but is not life-threatening, according to doctors.
Police are holding an inquiry into the incident. — Interfax Ukraine
U.S. expands export restrictions on Russia
5:30 p.m. — On the heels of its announcement that it had sanctioned 7 Russian officials, 17 companies (see below), the U.S. said it was moving to expand restrictions on defense exports to Russia.
Below is the U.S. State Department statement in full:
Today, in response to Russia’s continued actions in southern and eastern Ukraine, the United States is implementing additional restrictive measures on defense exports to Russia. Accordingly, the Department of State is expanding its export restrictions on technologies and services regulated under the U.S. Munitions List (USML).
Effective immediately, the Department’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) will deny pending applications for export or re-export of any high technology defense articles or services regulated under the U.S. Munitions List to Russia or occupied Crimea that contribute to Russia’s military capabilities. In addition, the Department is taking actions to revoke any existing export licenses which meet these conditions. All other pending applications and existing licenses will receive a case-by-case evaluation to determine their contribution to Russia’s military capabilities.
The United States will continue to adjust its export licensing policies toward Russia, as warranted by Russia’s actions in Ukraine. We urge Russia to honor the commitments it made in Geneva on April 17 to deescalate the situation in Ukraine. — Christopher J. Miller
Inter
channel confirms attack on its central office in Kyiv
4:45 p.m.
— A group of unidentified persons attacked the headquarters of TV channel
Inter on Monday, damaging several windows and doors of the building, and tossing
smoke bombs inside, the company said in an emailed statement.
The
television station said it considers the action “totally unacceptable conduct.”
The
incident at the Inter office “can be unambiguously interpreted as an attempt to
pressure on the biggest TV channel in Ukraine,” the company wrote. It said it considers
unacceptable “any means of pressure on the channel and is ready to defend its
employees and property by all available legal means.”
Inter said
in its statement that it regards the actions as hooliganism, a criminal offense
under Ukrainian law. “Therefore, the channel officials sent a statement to the
Department of the Interior Ministry. Inter is
confident that the police will find the organizers and executors of this hooligan
action.” — Christopher J. Miller
White House sanctions 7 Russian officials, 17 companies
4:17 p.m. — As evidence grows of Russian involvement in separatist violence in eastern Ukraine, the White House has announced a fresh round of sanctions on Russian officials and companies.
Seven officials have been sanctioned:
Oleg Belaventsev, Russian Presidential Envoy to the Crimean District; Member of the Russian Security Council
Sergei Chemezov
Dmitry Kozak, Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation
Evgeniy Murov, Director of the Federal Protective Service of the Russian Federation; Army General
Aleksei Pushkov, Chairman of State Duma Committee on International Affairs
Igor Sechin
Vyacheslav Volodin, First Deputy Chief of Staff of the Presidential Executive Office
The following 17 Russian companies have been sanctioned:
Aquanika
Vremya
Avia Group Ltd.
Avia Group Nord LLC
Zest Leasing
Investcapitalbank
Sobinbank
Sakhatrans LLC
SMP Bank
Stroygazmontazh
Stroytransgaz Group
Stroytransgaz Holding
Stroytransgaz LLC
Stroytransgaz OJSC
Stroytransgaz-M LLC
Abros Investment Co.
Transoil Volga Group — Isaac Webb
Detained self-proclaimed Sloviansk deputy mayor caught with
$19,000 and communication encryption device
3:40 p.m. – Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) says that
self-proclaimed Sloviansk Deputy Mayor Ihor Perepechayenko brought $19,000 from
Moscow and a device to encrypt telephone conversations designated for the
pro-Russian separatist movement in eastern Ukraine when they detained him on
April 25 at the Donetsk Airport.
Perepechayenko
was allegedly given instructions from his “handler” in Moscow to “implement
measures to escalate the situation in the eastern regions of our nation,”
reports the SBU. The money and encryption device were to be delivered to a
group of Kremlin-backed subversives allegedly led by Russian Military Intelligence
Colonel Igor Girkin (formerly known as Igor Strelkov or by his codename Strelok, by the SBU).
The
detained separatist is in custody on suspicion of “causing mass riots,” for his
alleged role in fueling the pro-Russian unrest in Donetsk Oblast. – Mark Rachkevych
Turchynov orders investigation of Kharkiv mayor shooting
3:27 p.m. — Interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov has ordered an investigation of the shooting of Kharkiv Mayor Gennady Kernes, the Verkhovna Rada’s press service reported on Monday.
According to the statement, Turchynov “instructed the Interior Ministry and the Security Service of Ukraine [SBU] to investigate immediately the attempt on the life of Kharkiv Mayor Gennady Kernes and report on the results.” — Isaac Webb
Doctor: Kernes sustained thraco-abdominal injury
3:06 p.m. — Kharkiv mayor Gennady Kernes has suffered a “serious thoracoabdominal injury,” according to Valeriy Boyko, a surgeon who operated on Kernes.
Boyko said that the surgery, which lasted for two hours, was successful. Kernes is still anesthetized and remains in critical condition.
A thoracoabdominal injury is caused by damage to the diaphragm resulting in an aperature between the chest and abdomen.
Kernes was reportedly unconscious when he was admitted to the hospital after being shot while running on the Belgorod highway.
Law enforcement officials found a shell casing on the scene, according to the Kharkiv city website. —Isaac Webb
Dobkin says shot at Kernes was aimed at
the heart
14:40 p.m. — Those who shot at Kharkiv Mayor Gennady
Kernes aimed at the heart, his friend and presidential candidate
Mykhailo Dobkin says.
“I can say this shot was aimed to
kill, to the heart . And I can say that there is no death only due to
a happy coincidence,” Dobkin said.
“If you want my opinion, it was
not a shot at Kernes it was a shot at Kharkiv,” Dobkin said. Kernes
is currently in critical condition and cannot be transported, he
said. Dobkin also said that the police found an ammunition case at
the site of the shooting, mostly likely from a sniper gun. –Interfax-Ukraine
Conflicting reports about Kharkiv mayor’s injuries
14:25 p.m. — Pro-Russian news outlet Vesti Ukrainy, citing deputy chairman of the Kharkiv Regional State Administration Yuriy Sapronov, reports that Kharkiv Mayor Gennady Kernes, who was shot in the back around noon on April 28, has sustained injuries to his lung and liver.
Sapronov wrote on Facebook: “They shot him in the back from the forest. The injury is serious. His lung is pierced and his liver pierced all the way through.”
Doctors are still operating on Kernes.
Kharkiv city council spokesman Yuriy Sydorenko told reporters outside the hospital where the mayor is being treated that the apparent assassination attempt “happened in Belgorodskiy highway between 11:30 a.m. and noon local time. He was riding a bicycle, and apparently there has been only one shot.”
In contrast to other news, Sydorenko said he had heard that Kernes’ vital organs are not affected because the bullet went through. — Isaac Webb, Christopher J. Miller
Three injured in minibus shooting in Kyiv region
12:00 p.m. — Three passengers on minibus were injured in a shooting just outside of Kyiv in the morning of April 28, local police reported. The shootout was allegedly initiated by unknown persons who drove three vehicles without license plates.
The men stopped at the bus stop and ambushed a minibus traveling in the village Mykhailivska Rubezhivka, in Kyiv region. The men shot at the bus using unidentified weapons, injuring three.
The victims were taken to the hospital, but their injuries are not life threatening, the police reported. — Katya Gorchinskaya
Kharkiv mayor Gennady Kernes shot in the back, remains in the hospital
12:00 p.m. — Kharkiv Mayor Gennady Kernes was shot in the back on April 28 and is in serious condition, the press service of the Kharkiv city council reported on its website.
“The Kharkiv mayor received a gunshot wound in the back. Now he is in the hospital emergency room on the operating table. Doctors are fighting for his life,” reads the statement.
Kernes was an avid supporter of former President Viktor Yanukovych and spoke out against the EuroMaidan Revolution that forced the ex-head of state to flee the country. Since then, Kernes has flip-flopped under pressure from EuroMaidan activists and the new Kyiv government in order to remain in office.
Following the news, presidential candidate and close Kernes confidant Mikhail Dobkin canceled his scheduled press conference.
Following the shooting, the Interior Ministry released a statement saying that “A team of police investigators are working at the scene. The event has been entered into the single register of pre-trial investigations; efforts are under way to investigate all circumstances of this incident.”– Christopher J. Miller and Isaac Webb
Third corpse found in Sloviansk
12:00 p.m. — Police in Donetsk Oblast found a third dead body in Sloviansk with signs of torture. The body was found on a river bank just outside the city, in the same spot where two other bodies were found on April 19.
“In the exact same place a new body has surfaced,” an official of the Donetsk press service told Interfax-Ukraine.
On April 19, the bodies of local councilman Volodymyr Rybak and 19-year-old Kyiv Polytechnic Institute student Yuriy Popravko were discovered there, with signs of torture. The men’s stomachs were slit open, and police said they were still alive when they were dumped into the river. — Katya Gorchinskaya
You can also highlight the text and press Ctrl + Enter
