Please enable JS and disable any ad blocker Ukrainian Armed Forces hit several targets near Horlivka (Gorlovka in Russian) This was announced by the administration of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Horlivka is located about 50 kilometers north of Donetsk reported that eleven civilians were injured Pushilin added that the local hospital was damaged Read also other news on Nova News Click here and receive updates on WhatsApp Follow us on the social channels of Nova News on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, Telegram 2000 - 2025 Nova Agency. All rights reserved Russia announced on Tuesday that it has taken control of the village of Leninske in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region. The Russian Defense Ministry stated that the settlement was captured by the Russian military's Center group of forces. The ministry also reported that other Russian military units have "improved their positions" along the frontline. "Since the beginning of the special military operation, 631 aircraft, 278 helicopters, 28,692 drones, 556 anti-aircraft missile systems, 16,725 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1,393 multiple rocket launchers, 12,567 field artillery and mortars, and 24,201 special military vehicles have been destroyed," the ministry claimed. In a separate statement, the head of the city of Horlivka, Ivan Prikhodko, reported that a woman was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack on the city center. "As a result of Ukrainian armed aggression, a tram driver was killed in the center of Horlivka. Eternal memory to the innocent victim. Condolences to the family and friends," he said. Ukraine has not yet commented on Russia's claims. Independent verification of these claims remains challenging due to the ongoing conflict. was released on 28 June after spending years in a Russian prison © AP Photo/Alex Babenko The release on 28 June of the Ukrainian museum researcher Olena Pekh from Russian captivity has shed light on the plight of other forcibly disappeared Ukrainian cultural workers including two Ukrainian Catholic priests—was mediated by the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and Pope Francis kept her mother’s case on the agenda by lobbying Zelensky as well as international human rights groups and cultural organisations for her release and mock executions her mother experienced a website and app documenting stories of Ukrainian political prisoners that she had tried to take her own life to end the ordeal: “My mum said she was regularly electrocuted which is why she now has problems with her legs… she had epileptic seizures.. she cut her veins because she could no longer stand the abuse.” The report is illustrated with graphic drawings by Serhiy Zakharov a Donetsk artist who was dubbed the “Banksy of Donetsk” He was imprisoned for a month-and-a-half in 2014 for mocking the Russian occupation through his street art Zakharov now lives in Kyiv and works with Izolyatsia an art foundation that had to be evacuated from its base in a Donetsk factory after Russian-backed forces turned it into a prison Pekh was led out of Kyiv airport on 29 June with Ukraine’s blue-and-yellow flag wrapped around her shoulders She appeared gaunt and haunted from her six-year ordeal Pekh and her daughter spoke via video I love you very much,” Olena told Isabella Borys Petrunok, a researcher with Zmina, a human rights organisation in Kyiv that has identified culture workers as one of the groups of Ukrainian citizens most vulnerable to arbitrary detention by Russian forces says it is incredibly difficult to compile a comprehensive list of the missing Since Russia “mostly holds captured civilians incommunicado,” Petrunok says human rights activists generally have to use alternative methods to establish their fates such as “the testimonies of other victims who were released” and who “heard names during roll call at the pretrial detention centre.” the more dire the situation becomes due to “the conditions of detention in Russian prisons” He says: “The risks of irreversible health damage are constantly increasing for all prisoners.” Zmina has been unable to obtain information about Halyna Kucher a curator at the Melitopol Museum of Local History who was kidnapped after she refused to lead a Russian-speaking man in a white lab coat to the museum’s collection of Scythian gold an artist and curator who founded the Museum of Contemporary Art in Kherson He was abducted from his home when the city came under Russian occupation Mashnytskyi was also the founder of an organisation that promoted the work of the self-taught artist Polina Rayko, whose home, full of her work, was destroyed by the breach of the Nova Kakhovka Dam in 2023. many of which were in Crimea when it was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014 news5 August 2024Ukrainian worker manages a wrecked museum in exileMariupol museum’s Oleksandr Hore is documenting losses and monitoring looting news14 June 2024Artur Snitkus, Ukrainian artist and musician, killed in combat near Donetsk, aged 36In tributes friends and colleagues described him as “icon of the Ukrainian queer underground” and “a holy man” news29 September 2022Russia to take over Ukrainian museum collections as formal annexation plans announcedPutin's decree to permanently occupy four regions of Ukraine means thousands of artefacts will become property of Russia An email with a reset link was sent to your mailbox Two Pion self-propelled artillery systems were destroyed by Ukrainian Forces Near Horlivka The occupied city is located 25 km from the front line and is considered a deep rear area for Russian forces "Two powerful 2S7 Pion self-propelled artillery systems were destroyed by the battalion of unmanned aerial systems," the report states 25 km from the front line near the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Horlivka was destroyed by precise sniper-like drops from a Nemesis bomber drone The strike was coordinated by aerial reconnaissance from the united assault brigade of the National Police What's known about the Pion artillery system The 2S7 Pion is a 203-mm self-propelled artillery system capable of striking targets up to 47.5 km away The Pion is intended to suppress rear areas and destroy critical targets temporarily occupied by Russian forces in 2014 the occupiers have turned the city into a hub for equipment and troops moving toward the front line Ukrainian Defense Forces continuously target areas where Russian resources are concentrated in Horlivka partisan groups conduct reconnaissance in the city partisans located a secret deployment site of the occupiers in Horlivka where numerous invaders from Buryatia were found The enemy is seizing property not only in Mariupol, Donetsk, and Crimea’s resorts. This time, the incident occurred in Horlivka and involved collaborators, reports the National Resistance Center (NRC) several buildings in temporarily occupied Horlivka on Peremohy Avenue were recently declared ownerless but local collaborators who assigned this status to the properties who had long dreamed of taking control of the valuable real estate The National Resistance Center (NRC) reminded that from the very beginning the Russians in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine developed a criminal scheme to appropriate property and subsequently become the so-called legal owners of someone else's property the CNS emphasized that all legal acts issued by Russia are legally invalid regardless of the documents issued by the Russian authourities Donate Stirol has been subject to sporadic damage from the fighting The first recorded incident was on the 18th April 2022 when an electrical transformer and warehouses of unknown contents were hit August 2022 saw increased targeting of the facility At around 17:00 local time, footage was posted on Telegram of a large plume of black smoke rising from the area of the plant following shelling. Local groups reported that the burning building contained military equipment; pro-Russian media contested this claim saying that the fire was due to burning roofing material and that there was no threat of chemical pollution from the incident While the site’s mothballing will have reduced day-to-day emissions conflict-linked damage is likely to have remobilised and dispersed existing pollutants and potentially led to new discharges The damage caused to date may have complicated future remedial work at the site Since February 2022, the “Donetsk People’s Republic” has repeatedly sought to downplay the environmental health risks arising from damage to Stirol PJSC Concern Stirol: the largest producer of nitrogen mineral fertilizers in Ukraine | Ostchem What happened to “Stirol” during the 8 years of the occupation of Gorlovka. The story of the decline of a chemical giant | Gorlovka.ua Gorlovka Chemical Plant: Addressing a Piece of the Toxic Soviet Legacy | McCartor and May Environmental assessment and recovery priorities for Eastern Ukraine | Zoï Environment Network Return to the country map here © 2025 Conflict and Environment Observatory | Charity No: 1174115 | Design by Open & Honest highly relevant issue briefs and reports that break new ground with a focus on advancing debates by integrating foundational research and analysis with concrete policy solutions the Atlantic Council’s experts have you covered—delivering their sharpest rapid insight and forward-looking analysis direct to your inbox New Atlanticist is where top experts and policymakers at the Atlantic Council and beyond offer exclusive insight on the most pressing global challenges—and the United States’ role in addressing them alongside its allies and partners A weekly column by Atlantic Council President and CEO Frederick Kempe Inflection Points focuses on the global challenges facing the United States and how to best address them UkraineAlert is a comprehensive online publication that provides regular news and analysis on developments in Ukraine’s politics UkraineAlert sources analysis and commentary from a wide-array of thought-leaders and activists from Ukraine and the global community MENASource offers the latest news from across the Middle East and independent analysis from fellows and staff Econographics provides an in-depth look at trends in the global economy utilizing state-of-the-art data visualization tools He uses the nom de guerre “Bes,” meaning “demon” in Russian a Horlivka city council member who had opposed the rebels and tried to remove their flag from city offices but after leaving the army moved to Horlivka where he worked as a security officer at a tractor factory and as a funeral home director as Russia prepared its invasion and annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula Bezler joined other Russian army veterans in organizing the takeover the SBU has said.  When the Russian proxy forces began their attacks in Donbas Bezler returned to the city where he had been living to seize control of it with his militia fighters Bezler held a clutch of hostages – seventeen at the most recent count Budik said in several telephone or Skype interviews – whom he intended to use as bargaining chips in negotiations for the release of his allies arrested by Ukrainian authorities With Bezler’s reported flight from Horlivka over the weekend the hostages were left guarded by one of the commander’s lieutenants their situation uncertain amid the fighting in the city Irena Chalupa covers Ukraine and Eastern Europe for the Atlantic Council Image: Igor Bezler addressing Horlivka police officers in April 2014 Sign up to receive expert analysis from our community on the most important global issues © 2025 Atlantic CouncilAll rights reserved If refreshing the page doesn't resolve the issue you could try clearing the sites browser cache are no longer the same as they were a month and a half to two months ago states Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman Yevhen Ievlev in a comment to the RBC-Ukraine YouTube channel The soldier explained that his unit holds a defensive line on the Horlivka axis but maintains constant communication with comrades involved in the city's defense "I’ll tell you that the situation in Toretsk is very difficult The enemy is using all available equipment This is all supported by their FPV drones and artillery this is no longer some super-new operational information the enemy is managing to advance," Ievlev said he emphasized that no square meter is easily taken by the Russian troops "Every square meter they take costs them blood and equipment The enemy simply uses a scorched-earth tactic leaving our guys with nothing to hold on to," the soldier added He emphasized that it is not rational to risk the lives of Ukrainian soldiers "just for a huge pile of construction debris." these advances come at a very high price for the enemy in terms of the dynamics and speed of these advances it's no longer the same progress we saw a month and a half to two months ago when the enemy was actually managing to make certain gains of up to a kilometer in a day," Ievlev said the situation in Toretsk is very difficult Ukrainian defenders "are doing everything possible within the realm of possibility and with all available resources." The goal is not just to defend the territory but to inflict as much damage as possible to the enemy," emphasized the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier He pointed out that if Ukrainian troops withdrew from Toretsk the enemy would simply occupy the city and gain more advantageous positions from which to fire and advance I wouldn't rush to say that it's impossible to hold Toretsk the same scenario will play out as it did in Soledar and Avdiivka but the enemy needs time and resources for that And I return to the fact that every square meter you can't even imagine how much enemy personnel and destroyed equipment it costs them," added the soldier He emphasized that the Russian offensive on Toretsk has been ongoing for more than two months it cannot be said that holding it is impossible And when I say within the realm of the impossible – that means with all available means and our FPV drones are doing an incredible job and the Cossacks are doing more than they can," Ievlev stated the first reports emerged that Russian forces had entered Toretsk Recently, it was reported that Russian troops had advanced further in Toretsk. Specifically, the enemy has fortified positions on two streets According to the Luhansk Operational and Tactical Group, the Russian forces control the eastern part of Toretsk Fighting continues in other parts of the city as of now This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page their residential building had been struck by shelling on the outskirts of Ukraine's capital He and other civilians were horrified to find their lives at risk Amid the smoke and the wailing of car alarms Zhyhanov and his family packed and joined them His weariness and shock reflected that of his country on Friday as people climbed out of bomb shelters, basements and subways to face another day of upheaval Those who didn't wake to explosions were roused by another day of air raid sirens. Then came the news that Russian forces had advanced to the outskirts of the capital Russia has said it is not targeting cities The body of a dead soldier lay on the ground near a Kyiv underpass fragments of a downed aircraft smoked amid the brick homes of a residential area Black plastic was draped over body parts found beside them Armored personnel carriers drove down the city's streets Residents stood uneasily in doorways of apartment buildings a young girl named Vlada was new to war and already wished for it to stop "I don't want to die," she said "I want all of this to end as soon as possible." Ukrainians picked through the damage left by shelling a body covered with a blanket lay on the ground outside a house that had been hit by shelling In a train station just across the border in Poland hundreds of people from Ukraine sought shelter One of those at the station was Andry Borysov who said he had heard the rush of something flying overhead and then an explosion as he hurried to catch a train out of Kyiv "It was an unmistakable sound," he said a government-controlled area in the separatist-held Donetsk People's Republic "It's fifty-fifty on whether it is worth leaving or not," she said "But it wouldn't hurt to leave for a couple days Others leaving Ukraine knew it might take much longer before they can come home Russians have intensified their activities in the Toretsk area of Donetsk region the enemy is increasing its offensive pace in the Horlivka - Toretsk sector according to the General Staff as of 13:00 Russian occupiers have shown the highest activity in the Pokrovsk direction there is high intensity of offensive actions by the aggressors in the area of Toretsk," the report stated the enemy continues to increase the pace of its offensive actions in the Horlivka - Toretsk direction." "The aggressor's aviation is conducting strikes with guided bombs Defense forces effectively repel enemy assault operations having repulsed four attacks and three others are ongoing," the General Staff added The overall number of combat engagements has increased to 64 enemy forces attacked Ukrainian defensive positions nine times along the Kupiansk direction the aggressor struck twice with four guided bombs Ukrainian forces repelled eight attempts by the occupiers to advance the enemy attacked Ukrainian defense units along the Lyman direction Ukrainian soldiers successfully repelled one assault with ongoing fighting near the populated areas of Terny and Nevske Borova and Pidlyman came under attack by guided aerial bombs the occupation army continues to show activity near Verkhniokamianske Ukrainian forces repelled eight attacks by Russian occupiers the enemy shows no intention of breaching Ukrainian defense in the Pokrovsk direction Russian occupation forces have attacked Ukrainian positions 22 times near Novooleksandrivka the Ukrainian Armed Forces have repelled 14 enemy attacks the aggressor attempts to advance on Ukrainian defense positions near Krasnohorivka Ukrainian defenders on this stretch repelled three enemy assaults three enemy attacks near Staromaiorsk and Vodiane were unsuccessful occupation forces are attacking with aerial support the aggressors struck twice with 36 unguided aerial rockets (NARs) Three enemy assaults failed in the area of Robotye a Russian mercenary attack near Krynky was unsuccessful District draft stations in the temporarily occupied Horlivka in cooperation with the security agencies run by the invaders were tasked with ‘mobilizing’ 6,000 local residents There is a hunt in town for men of conscription age In view of the experience of previous ‘recruitment campaigns’ as well as the fact that a large number of men have fled the town invaders are now unable to draft a sufficient number of people to meet ‘mobilization’ targets these measures significantly increase social tensions and the elderly who comprise today’s today’s population in the occupied town who had been ‘mobilized’ into the 9th separate Marine regiment of russia’s 1st Army Corps lost contact with their loved ones on September 11 while deployed in temporarily captured areas of the Kherson region they refused to take part in combat missions The last thing families heard from the drafted men was that their russian commanders threatened to send them to the front line without weapons if they refuse to follow orders a coal-mining city 20 miles northeast of Donetsk Rybak opposed the takeover of his city’s government by the gunmen who have proclaimed a separatist Donetsk People’s Republic in southeastern Ukraine On April 17 he and some friends got into a shoving match with the gunmen when he tried to enter city hall Rybak tried to remove the separatists’ flag hung from outside the office building As with much of the violence in Donetsk province “You will take down that flag over my dead body,” one man yells at Rybak and wearing leather jackets or a camouflage uniform a member of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party which is prominent in the interim government in Kyiv and he was next found dead 40 miles to the north near the separatist stronghold of Slaviansk his body left near the bank of the Torets River and Russian special forces troops in Donetsk Volodymyr Rybak’s killing is perhaps the clearest single demonstration of the gunmen’s readiness to conduct the half-hidden mafia-style violence for which “dirty war” became a shorthand under the Argentine and Chilean juntas of the 1970s But evidence comes from many directions – multiple reports by independent journalists in Donetsk video recordings by local residents of violently-inclined gunmen The SBU this week published summaries of telephone conversations it says it intercepted between GRU officers and the self-proclaimed The SBU quotes GRU Lieutenant Colonel Igor Bezler as telling Ponomaryov that Rybak is to be “neutralized.” In later conversations which it calls the main organizer of the Donetsk uprising as ordering that Rybak be brought to meet him Strelkov orders Ponomaryov to dispose of Rybak’s body he’s lying here and stinking” says Strelkov as soon as I finish dealing with the journalists others have been confirmed by Ponomaryov to be in his forces’ custody – and several have disappeared Journalists in Slaviansk reported this afternoon that the militants freed Ostrovsky. Ponomaryov’s forces in the town say they continue to detain other journalists, and the flamboyant, platinum-haired Slaviansk mayor, Nelly Shtepa, who turned critical of the gunmen before they detained her earlier this month. Irena Chalupa covers Ukraine and Eastern Europe for the Atlantic Council. Image: Relatives of Volodymyr Rybak, a city councilor in Horlivka, carry his picture at his funeral April 24, after he was abducted and killed in Ukraine’s Donetsk province. The Ukrainian state security agency said Russian military officers directing separatist uprisings in Donetsk had ordered Rybak’s killing after he opposed a separatist takeover in Horlivka. REUTERS/Marko Djurica Sign up to receive expert analysis from our community on the most important global issues, rapid insights on events as they unfold, and highlights of the Council's best work. © 2025 Atlantic CouncilAll rights reserved. If refreshing the page doesn't resolve the issue you could try clearing the sites browser cache. Severe Thunderstorm Watch until 10 a.m. for Bandera, Edwards, Kerr, and Real counties FORECASTSHARE PHOTOS & VIDEO'I don't want to die': Ukrainians fear as invasion closes inby Associated Press Pop star Filipp Kirkorov traveled to occupied Ukraine to perform for Russian soldiers two months after his attendance at a scandalous “nearly naked” party put a dent in his career, media reported Tuesday.   Independent news outlets speculated that Kirkorov made the rare trip as an act of repentance days after his name appeared on a list of 50 artists who were reportedly blacklisted in Russia.   Kirkorov visited wounded soldiers in the Donetsk region city of Horlivka according to the Ostorozhno Novosti media outlet In addition to performing the song "Sneg" (Snow), Kirkorov reportedly brought the soldiers humanitarian assistance and promised to help pay for prosthetic limbs have lived here and will continue to live here,” Kirkorov was filmed saying to the audience indicating he does not plan to move abroad “The feeling of support from the rear that you give me is very important to me,” he added Филипп Киркоров съездил в аннексированную Донецкую область.Согласно сообщениям пророссийских пабликов, певец посетил больницу №2 в Горловке. Туда он привез подарки раненым военнослужащим, выступил перед ними с речью и спел несколько песенhttps://t.co/L05I2lNYae pic.twitter.com/1CJtge0Kwy Video of Kirkorov’s speech and performance was published by several pro-Russian outlets including the Kremlin-funded broadcaster RT.  Kirkorov and other celebrities sparked a national scandal by attending a star-studded private event dubbed “nearly naked party” at a Moscow nightclub.  Influential pro-war bloggers ridiculed partygoers for flaunting their wealth and debauchery during the war in Ukraine.  A rapper who was filmed wearing nothing but a sock on his genitalia at the event was jailed The party’s organizer was hit with multimillion-dollar lawsuits for moral damages Despite apologizing for his attendance both in a recorded video statement and personally to the Kremlin’s spokesman Kirkorov’s scenes were cut from several pre-recorded New Year’s Eve programs on state television Kirkorov was ranked among Russia’s highest-paid celebrities in 2022 with a net worth of $4.9 million Russia's Prosecutor General's Office has designated The Moscow Times as an "undesirable" organization criminalizing our work and putting our staff at risk of prosecution This follows our earlier unjust labeling as a "foreign agent." These actions are direct attempts to silence independent journalism in Russia The authorities claim our work "discredits the decisions of the Russian leadership." We see things differently: we strive to provide accurate We, the journalists of The Moscow Times, refuse to be silenced. But to continue our work, we need your help please support us monthly starting from just $2 and every contribution makes a significant impact independent journalism in the face of repression Propagandists from russia suggested where to look for a repair base for their equipment in the occupied territories - the artillerymen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to use these tips Propagandists of the russian federation showed a video story about russian military repair base with T-72 tanks and a significant amount of other equipment The location of this base was determined within a few hours Its location was Horlivka Machine-Building Plant today's message from StratCom of the Armed Forces of Ukraine states that Ukraine’s military decided to take advantage of such a tip and hit this repair base Ukrainian soldiers are destroying the crowd of people and repair bases of the horde probably the same ones that good people wrote about and which were already in line for destruction," the message reads Given that this repair base is located at a distance of about 15 km from the front line the Armed Forces of Ukraine could cover it with 155-mm artillery systems while HIMARS are engaged in "demilitarization" of enemy ammunition depots Ukrainian troops have taken a spoil tip on the northwestern outskirts of Horlivka. Experts believe that this will not change the situation on the battlefield, but will expand tactical capabilities, according to the RBC-Ukraine article "Avdiivka and Maryinka situation, Ukrainian maneuvers near Horlivka: Frontline overview" Horlivka is a major industrial center in the Donetsk region This week it became known that our soldiers have advanced and taken control of the mine spoil heap named after Gagarin a military expert and former spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine says that the Ukrainian Defense Forces were proactive but he doubts that this will significantly affect the situation in this area "This should scare the Russians to some extent They think they have everything under control and determine exactly where and when to attack our defenders.. Will this (the positions on the spoil tip - ed.) change the situation on the battlefield radically the enemy will pull up resources and push our units back But this will force him to move either reserves or forces from other parts of the front," he explains head of the Center for Military Legal Studies the new height expands the tactical capabilities of Ukrainian troops the tactical success of Ukrainian forces shows two aspects: The Ukrainian Armed Forces counterattack whenever possible and the occupiers cannot act equally along the entire front experts believe that a military scenario for the liberation of Horlivka is impossible the American magazine TIME wrote about the alleged demand to conduct an operation to retake Horlivka fighting in urban areas is the most difficult type of operation Let's recall the heroic defense of Bakhmut the Russians lost about 100,000 dead and wounded This is too high a price to pay for a district center Ukraine is unlikely to realize the de-occupation of Horlivka in this way What is happening now in the area of the spoil tip is a tactical episode Its purpose is to divert the occupiers' resources and attention from other eastern directions," the expert says On December 12, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the advance of the Armed Forces of Ukraine near Horlivka, Donetsk Oblast. Ukrainian soldiers recaptured one of the occupiers' spoil heaps The Ukrainian soldiers also managed to capture Russian positions The advance was made by the soldiers of the 24th Separate Mechanized Royal Brigade named after King Danylo has been under temporary occupation of Russia since 2014 The successes of Ukrainian troops in the area were reported online in the second half of November The defenders have managed to gain a foothold only now That in a nutshell is how the insurgency threatening the survival of Ukraine as a unified state is increasingly unfolding more than a dozen government offices in eastern Ukraine have been taken over by pro-Russian forces with most of the seizures following the same pattern sometimes carrying firearms and wearing military fatigues The Ukrainian flag is replaced with a Russian one Those capturing the buildings insist they are carrying out the will of the people and have demanded a referendum on autonomy for the eastern Donetsk region Relatively small numbers have hit the streets in support and it is increasingly evident the purported uprising is far from spontaneous and is being carried out with unerring coordination Russia has tens of thousands of troops massed along Ukraine's eastern border Western governments accuse Moscow of fueling the unrest and worry that the specter of bloodshed could be used as a pretext for a Russian invasion The Ukrainian government's inability to quash the pro-Russian insurgency was highlighted by acting President Oleksandr Turchynov's call Monday for the deployment of United Nations peacekeeping troops in the east of his country He said the presence of Russian meddling was clear in the unrest gripping his country "The Russian Federation is sending special units to the east of our country which seize administrative buildings with the use of weapons and are putting the lives of hundreds of thousands of our citizens in danger," Turchynov Pro-Russian activists point to what they say is an aggressively nationalistic government as justification for their actions The Cabinet in charge since the overthrow of President Viktor Yanukovych in February includes some nationalist figures but there is no substantive evidence the Russian-speaking population has been subject to any widespread intimidation in recent weeks The relative ease with which pro-Russian groups have been able to overwhelm resistance was in full display Monday in the Donetsk region city of Horlivka Hundreds of local people gathered in a square in front of the local police station who described himself as the head of a public self-defense unit in Horlivka said the crowd was fighting against appointees of the Kiev government "The people came to tell him that he is a puppet of the Kiev junta and they won't accept him," Sapunov said Then came the moment for the switchover of the flag from Ukrainian to Russian the head of the police force came to the ledge chasing the man with Russian tricolor and knocking him 20 feet (6 meters) to the ground The police inside sought to disperse them with stun grenades and by firing guns into the air but the building was taken within about an hour men in fatigues marched the chief of police Details of another assault also followed a similar script swiftly and professionally secured control over the police station Saturday local guys wearing regular clothes stood watch Beyond a barricade blocking the road to the police headquarters a few hundred people chanted calls for a referendum on autonomy and gave renditions of the Russian anthem These episodes have fed into accusations from the government in Kiev and Western officials that protests are being instigated by the Kremlin and that some of the insurgents are in fact Russian agents a commentator with the independent Russian website Colta.ru used the fuel and matches analogy to underscore the apparent involvement of outside agents "In all the cities in Ukraine where there have been disturbances it is always outsiders that have acted as the armed attackers and provocateurs," he said Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov again denied Monday that Russian agents were operating in eastern Ukraine saying it would contradict Moscow's interests He challenged Ukraine "not to be shy" about backing its claims of capturing Russian security officers with facts Eyewitnesses have reported multiple sightings of camouflaged militia similar to those seen in Crimea before that peninsula's annexation and which are widely believed to have been following order from Moscow raised Russian and separatist flags over seized buildings and have called referendums and union with Russia," U.S Ambassador Samantha Power said during a UN Security Council session Sunday Ever since Yanukovych fled to Russia in late February the Kremlin has demanded constitutional reforms that would turn Ukraine into a loose federal state the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Monday that Putin has received "numerous appeals" from eastern Ukraine "asking him to help and interfere in one way or another." Peskov added that Putin was "watching the developments in those regions with great concern" but wouldn't elaborate Putin urged President Barack Obama to discourage the Ukrainian government from using force against protesters in the country's east The Kremlin said in a statement following Monday's conversation that the Russian leader rejected the claims of Russian agents' involvement in protests as "speculations based on unreliable information." Putin said the protests vented public anger about the Ukrainian government's reluctance to recognize the interests of Russian speakers in the east In a development that could help fuel recurring Russian allegation of U.S White House press secretary Jay Carney confirmed Monday that CIA chief John Brennan had visited Ukraine over the weekend The CIA denied Brennan had used his trip to advise Ukrainian authorities on tactical operations After refusing demands for a referendum by breakaway supporters in the east Turchynov indicated Monday that holding a nationwide referendum on the country's status was a possibility and that such a vote could be conducted on May 25 Turchynov expressed confidence that Ukrainians would vote against turning the country into a federation and against its break-up has frequently and vocally expressed support for federalization A deadline set by the Ukrainian government for pro-Russian gunmen to leave government buildings in eastern Ukraine and surrender weapons passed without incident early Monday with no immediate sign of any action to liberate any seized buildings Partisans in the temporarily occupied Horlivka (Donetsk region) have discovered the location of a group of Russians. They are hiding in a local sanatorium, reveals ATESH "The partisans have scouted the location of Russian troops in Horlivka," the statement said It is noted that the personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation are located in a sanatorium "Local residents are tired of the presence of occupation troops in their city," ATESH added ATESH helps to identify occupiers' military facilities ATESH is a military partisan movement in the occupied territories of Ukraine The partisans have discovered a large occupation site in the area of Dzhankoy (Crimea) The facility is well-guarded and surrounded by defensive structures The partisans also staged a raid on a military base of Russian troops in Novooleksiivka The enemy is using it as a temporary deployment point partisans discovered Russian air defense near the temporarily occupied Simferopol (Crimea) Violence on Sunday prevented teams from going to MH17 crash site Ukraine claims Russia sending more troops to towns near border '+n.escapeExpression("function"==typeof(o=null!=(o=r(e,"eyebrowText")||(null!=l?r(l,"eyebrowText"):l))?o:n.hooks.helperMissing)?o.call(null!=l?l:n.nullContext||{},{name:"eyebrowText",hash:{},data:t,loc:{start:{line:28,column:63},end:{line:28,column:78}}}):o)+" \n '+(null!=(o=c(e,"if").call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2PreText"):l,{name:"if",hash:{},fn:n.program(32,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:63,column:20},end:{line:63,column:61}}}))?o:"")+"\n"+(null!=(o=(c(e,"ifAll")||l&&c(l,"ifAll")||n.hooks.helperMissing).call(r,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Text"):l,null!=l?c(l,"cta2Link"):l,{name:"ifAll",hash:{},fn:n.program(34,t,0),inverse:n.noop,data:t,loc:{start:{line:64,column:20},end:{line:70,column:30}}}))?o:"")+" Armen Sarkysian (nickname – Armen Horlivskyi) a renowned criminal authority from Horlivka has become the new “watchman” for prisons throughout the russian federation and the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine One of the main directions of its activity is the creation of a new “private military company” It is assumed that within a limited time the new structure will recruit a significant number of “recruits” The model for the project should be the infamous Wagner PMC The “recruits” for PMC will be recruit in exactly places of deprivation of liberty This “project” should strengthen the occupation contingent and create internal competition among russian PMCs The new PMC is sponsored by russian-armenian businessman Samvel Karapetian Armen Sarkysian (nickname – Armen Horlivskyi) close to the family of fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych and connected with another criminal – Yuri Ivaniushchenko (Yura Yenakievskyi) He is on the Ukrainian wanted list as one of the organizers of the murders on the Maidan Shadow overseer of all business in the occupied Horlivka he has been looting and “squeezing” businesses in the occupied territories of Ukraine a pro-Kremlin businessman of Armenian origin one of the sponsors of russian aggression against Ukraine The owner of the Gazprom-related company "Tashyr Holding" which also includes the company "Electric Networks of Armenia" Creation of a new structure is an attempt to counter Pryhozhyn’s actual monopoly in the field of PMCs in russia Ukraine: Former industrial powerhouse falls on hard timesPublished April 21 2014This article was published more than 11 years ago Welcome to The Globe and Mail’s comment community. 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