Authorities: Russia behind Easter weekend attacks and building seizures in eastern regions (VIDEO)

At a briefing on April 22, Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) spokesperson Maryna
Ostapenko blamed Russia for the building seizures and armed assaults, and
accused it of violating a de-escalation agreement that was brokered in Geneva last
week by diplomats from the U.S., European Union, Ukraine and Russia.

Ostapenko added that there is mounting, irrefutable evidence of Russian
special-ops troops and military intelligence personnel engaged in operations in eastern
Ukraine.

Officials in Moscow have denied the accusations, even though Russian President
Vladimir Putin admitted last week on television that Russian troops took part
in the annexation of Crimea in February and March. Military and defense experts have
asserted that Russia is duplicating the Crimea operation in eastern Ukraine via
a stealth invasion using armed, masked men and special forces.

The reports come as the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe is considering increasing its presence in the east. The OSCE, in
particular, is working to ensure that the Geneva agreement – in which pro-Russian
militants are supposed to vacate all illegally occupied government buildings
and public areas, and give up their arms – is immediately implemented.

While on a two-day visit to Kyiv, U.S. Vice President said that Russia
must “stop talking and start acting” to defuse the Ukraine crisis.  

Biden warned Russia that
further “provocative behavior” would lead to “greater
isolation” and urged Moscow to end its alleged support for pro-Russian
militants in eastern Ukraine, the BBC reported.

A news video about the suspected Russian special forces in eastern Ukraine.

Insurgents seize police
station and SBU building

Late on the night of April 21 – during a holiday extension of Easter – some 20 armed, masked men in camouflage took the
Kramatorsk city police station, the Interior Ministry reported. As a result, the local police chief was kidnapped. The same night,
20 armed men seized the local Kramatorsk SBU building.

The Interior Ministry also reported that around 10 armed men captured the
training grounds of Ukraine’s Interior Troops in the village of Vasylivka in the Yasynuvatsky District of Donetsk Oblast. 

Moscow-backed attacks
continue, alleged spy captured

On April 20, Ukrainian airborne troops repulsed an attack on their base
in the Dobropilsky District of Donetsk Oblast by three armed, masked men on motorcycles.
After the militants fired first, the airborne troops returned fire, wounding one
and capturing the other two, the Defense Ministry reported. Additionally, an
RGD-5 anti-personnel hand grenade was found on one of the motorcycles, the
Interior Ministry announced. 

A Russian military intelligence operative was captured spying on the
Kharkiv Air Force University, the Defense Ministry said. The alleged spy was
disguised as a homeless vagrant who would constantly write in a notebook while
loitering near the university. When apprehended, drawings of the university
campus were found among the man’s captured personal effects.

Also over the holiday weekend, the Defense Ministry said Ukrainian troops
repelled an attack by armed militants at a military checkpoint near the city of
Shchastya in Luhansk Oblast. No further details were provided. 

Flak vests, helmets,
aviation kits seized at border

On April 19, the State Border Guard Service found two bullet-proof vests,
four helmets, and eight aviation rescue kits that contain machete knives in a
delivery truck in Kherson Oblast that crossed into Ukraine from the Russian-annexed
Autonomous Republic of Crimea. 

On April 15-17, the State Border Guard Service captured money mules from
Crimea travelling by train carrying a total of Hr 7.6 million. After being questioned by authorities, the men revealed that the money was being sent to Kremlin-backed militants in eastern Ukraine. 

Kyiv Post editor Mark
Rachkevych can be reached at rachkevych@kyivpost.com.