SLOVYANSK, Ukraine (AP) – Ukraine is launching a “large-scale anti-terrorist operation” to resist attacks of armed pro-Russian forces, Ukraine’s President Oleksandr Turchynov said on Sunday in a televised address.
The authorities in Kiev will use the army in order to prevent Russian forces from moving in, as they did in Crimea, Turchynov said, pledging amnesty to anyone laying down arms by Monday morning.
“The Security Council has made a decision to begin a large-scale anti-terrorist operation with participation of army forces,” he said. “We’re not going to allow Russia to repeat the Crimean scenario in Ukraine’s east.”
Ukrainian special forces exchanged gunfire with a pro-Russia militia in an eastern city Sunday morning, with at least one security officer killed and five others wounded. It was the first reported gunbattle in eastern Ukraine, where armed pro-Russia men have seized a number of government buildings in recent days.
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