KIEV, April 14 (RIA Novosti) – International monitors with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have arrived in Ukraine’s southeastern town of Slaviansk, a Ukrainian TV channel reported Monday.
“OSCE representatives have fanned out across Ukraine to investigate the situation on the ground,” an OSCE official told the “24” channel. The source said the OSCE personnel were to observe the situation in a number of Ukrainian cities without interfering in ongoing events.
Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchinov issued a deadline over the weekend to pro-federalization protesters to disarm or face a “full-scale anti-terrorist operation” involving the country’s armed forces. The ultimatum expired Monday morning at 10:00 a.m. Moscow time, with pro-federalization protesters in Donetsk Region ignoring the threat of a crackdown if they refuse to relinquish captured government buildings.
Russian UN envoy Vitaly Churkin called on the international community Monday to demand that Ukrainian authorities stop moving toward civil war in the crisis-hit country.
Rallies in support of federalization have been rocking the country since early March, with activists in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv capturing regional government buildings to put pressure on the country’s coup-imposed regime.
On Saturday, the protests spilled over to numerous towns and cities across Ukraine’s eastern province of Donetsk, including Slaviansk, Mariupol, Yenakiyevo, and Kramatorsk.
