Fighting Begins in Slovyansk

Separatist forces in the eastern Ukrainian stronghold of Slovyansk brought down two government helicopters on Friday, killing two of their occupants, the Ukraiainan Defense Ministry said, as government forces launched what was termed the “active phase” of an assault to dislodge militants. 

The military action drew a broadside of protest and indignation from the Kremlin, which said the assault had effectively destroyed “all hope” for a plan to defuse the growing tensions in Ukraine negotiated last month in Geneva by the United States, Russia, Ukraine and the European Union. 

Blaming the Kiev authorities, a spokesman for President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, Dmitri S. Peskov, told Russian news agencies: “The Kiev regime ordered combat aircraft to fire at civilian towns and villages, launching a ‘punitive operation’ and effectively destroying all hope for the viability of the Geneva agreements.” 

By early afternoon, military operations in and around Slovyansk appeared to have ceased, leaving the region in a state of tension. Moscow repeated its warning that it reserved the right to intervene to protect its interests and Russian-leaning residents of eastern Ukraine, but there were no signs of an imminent move across the border.

That report this morning comes from Neil MacFarquhar and Alan Cowell, "Clashes in Eastern Ukraine as Moscow Issues New Warnings." Yesterday Putin demanded that the coup government demilitarize eastern Ukraine and enter a dialogue to resolve the nation's conflict. A sensible path forward. Washington's puppets provided their nonsensical reply with the attack on Slovyansk. Moscow says that American mercenaries are rounding out the Ukrainian forces attacking Russian-speaking civilians:

The Russian foreign ministry and state-run media also repeated the accusation, again with no evidence, that there were “English-speaking officers” among the attackers. The foreign ministry said that American “mercenaries” could not be working in Ukraine without State Department approval. 

Mr. Peskov, Mr. Putin’s spokesman, was speaking shortly after the Defense Ministry in Kiev, Ukraine’s capital, acknowledged the loss of two military helicopters. The Ukrainian domestic-intelligence agency, S.B.U., said the apparent use of shoulder-fired missiles against one of the helicopters showed that the separatists had outside support.

If two helicopters were brought down in short order during the opening phases of the assault on Slovyansk this does not bode well for the putschists. The attrition required to reestablish control in the many cities and towns of the east would be too great. The presence of shoulder-fired missiles among the pro-federalization protesters means they have an answer to putschist armor.

There is no question this is being driven by planners in the United States. Once again, cracking a state open -- think Libya, think Syria -- with all the attendant death, destruction and instability is a preferable outcome for the D.C. smart set than coming to the bargaining table and negotiating a peaceful settlement.

Because coming to the negotiating table and bargaining in good faith would necessarily entail acknowledging the huge, legitimate interests Russia has in the region and the reality that Ukraine is a nation divided between the industrial, pro-Russian east and the ultra-nationalist west of what The Saker has termed "Banderastan." Any agreement is going to have to include federalization of Ukraine -- federalization and neutrality. The United States is not willing to accept this reality. So it is actively engaged in the destruction of the Ukrainian state. The putschists are willing accomplices because they came to power illegitimately. Isn't this obvious?