Ukrainian forces recaptured a flashpoint area of eastern Ukraine from pro-Russian rebels yesterday and raised the country’s blue and yellow flag again over what had been the separatist redoubt of Slaviansk.
A Reuters reporter saw a convoy of about 20 military transport vehicles and buses filled with armed rebels driving out of Kramatorsk where they had gone after apparently fleeing Slaviansk 20km to the north.
About 100-150 Ukrainian troops patrolled the centre of Slaviansk. Shooting could be heard from the outskirts of the town which had served as a stronghold for rebel forces command.
“Your order to free Slaviansk from the (separatist) fighters has been carried out,” newly-appointed Defence Minister Valery Heletey was quoted by the presidential website as telling Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
The rebellion in largely Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine has been a source of great tensions between the West and Russia. Moscow, which has already come under economic sanctions, denies Western accusations it has been backing the insurrection.
The Ukrainian flag had been run up on the main administrative building in Slaviansk, Heletey said, replacing the Russian one separatists had hoisted in early April when they seized key buildings in the city of 130,000.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said a large number of separatists had fled in the face of sustained fire from Ukrainian forces.
“A significant number of militants have left Slaviansk... along the way, our battle groups are greeting them. They are suffering losses and surrendering,” he said in a statement on his Facebook page.
Your order to free Slaviansk from the fighters has been carried out
A source close to the rebels told Reuters they had been outnumbered by 50 to one. “(The Ukrainian forces) have greater numbers of troops and military hardware,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The rebels acknowledged the loss.
Aleksandr Borodai, a leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying: “The punitive forces of Ukraine... moved into a large-scale offensive.
“Given the disproportionate numerical superiority of the enemy troops, units of the armed forces of the Donetsk People’s Republic were forced to leave their previous positions on the northern sector of the front.”
Slaviansk has been the strongest redoubt of militants fighting government forces in eastern Ukraine.
Its re-capture represents Kiev’s most notable military victory in three months of fighting in which more than 200 Ukrainian troops have been killed as well as hundreds of civilians and rebels.
Poroshenko’s website said separatist fighters had come under mortar fire tryng to break through government forces’ lines. Separatists had lost one tank and other armoured vehicles.
A Ukrainian paratrooper, Eduard, who was at an army checkpoint going into Slaviansk said: “It was a quiet night when suddenly a column of separatists appeared and began firing. They didn’t have much luck. Artillery guns hit part of the town and part of those here.”
“All those (separatists) who got to this checkpoint were killed. Those who were over there ran away,” he said, gesturing higher up the road.