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Ukrainian Forces Step Up Anti-Terror Campaign as Separatists Seize More Buildings

The anti-terror operation announced by Kiev earlier this week is the third attempt to oust the pro-Russia forces controlling large regions.
Photo via AP

In a depressing case of two steps forwards, two steps backwards, as Ukrainian forces inched forward today toward Sloviansk, pro-Russia separatists seized more state buildings in nearby Donestk and garnered support in grieving Odessa.

This weekend's anti-terror operation, announced by Kiev earlier this week, is the third attempt to oust the pro-Russia forces controlling large regions in eastern Ukraine in the last month.

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Two previous bids to dislodge the militia from their strongholds ended in almost immediate failure after Ukrainian troops, who barely made it off their bases, were either captured or surrendered.

Watch all of VICE News' dispatches, Russian Roulette: The Invasion of Ukraine here.

As the latest anti-terror sting entered into its second day of active assault, the pro-Russian forces defending Sloviansk reported heavy losses.

A spokesperson for self-appointed mayor of Sloviansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, said the militia death toll stood at around 40, but that number could not be independently verified.

According to locals, the heaviest casualties were incurred in Andreevka, a few miles away from Sloviansk.

Gunfire was exchanged throughout the night by both sides. But local residents accused the Ukrainian military of shooting at unarmed men who formed a human chain at the village’s edge and not allowing ambulances and cars carrying the injured to pass through their line.

“These fascists sent by Kiev junta are disgusting. They are killing their Slavic brothers, their own people,” said 70-year-old Ludmila, one of the villagers who gathered to survey the damage in the morning.

One corpse was on display in Andreevka, but injured local Igor, a 29-year-old farm worker, said that several more people had been killed and that they were still discovering more bodies out in the fields. “They shot at peaceful people,” he added.

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Following a brief hiatus in violence on this morning, gunfire resumed around midday as the Ukrainian army advanced from their military base in Kramatorsk.

Gunfire was exchange intermittently for several hours and rebels set up buses and barricades in a bid to hold the army’s advance back.

“We expect more attacks tonight” said Roman, a Ukrainian soldier stationed on a Kramatorsk checkpoint. He said his unit had come under heavy fire from the pro-Russia forces.

In Photos: Ukraine launches 'counter-terrorism' mission. View the pictures here.

The entire region has increasingly descended into lawlessness.

Kidnapping and murders of those who oppose the militia has become commonplace. Carjacking and muggings have increased dramatically.

Pro-Russia separatists did however release the seven Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) military observers and civilian translator who had been detained in the Sloviansk SBU building for the past week.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) confirmed the release of a group of military observers who were detained last week by pro-Russia separatists.

The separatists had accused the military observers of being spies, and remained tight-lipped about the reasons for their release, which was reportedly negotiated with the help of an envoy of Russia's president, Vladimir Putin.

Detained military observers in Ukraine have been released. Read more here.

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"We know that there are many questions about their detention, but in time, the world will know the real reasons for this," said Ponomaryov's spokesperson.

Yet as the Ukrainian army pushed slowly forward toward the militia’s heartland in Sloviansk, losses were incurred on another front.

As evening fell in Donetsk, the region’s administrative center just 62 miles from the military action, about 100 unarmed men wearing ragtag military fatigues, stormed the Ukrainian security service (SBU) building in Donetsk meeting minimal resistance from local police who watched from a distance.

Just days before, on May 1, a public holiday in former Soviet countries, clashes erupted as demonstrators at a pro-Russia rally moved to seize the Donetsk prosecutor’s office hurling rocks and Molotov cocktails at police defending the building.

Today, after looting the SBU building the pro-Russia militia turned their attentions to the nearby private office of the governor of Donetsk, Sergey Taruta, a Kiev appointed steel and coal oligarch.

According to witnesses, the militia cleaned out the businessman’s office taking everything from the latte machine to the curtains.

Outside a crowd of a few hundred cheered the rebels on, chanting: “We won’t forget Odessa” as balaclava-clad men carried oil paintings out the building.

The chorus was a reference to the violence that rocked the country’s southeast port city on Friday.

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More than 30 protesters were killed after they were chased into the trade union building and the structure was set on fire during the violence clashes between pro-Russia and pro-Ukrainian demonstrators.

Dozens killed as Ukraine violence spreads to Odessa. Read more here.

According to police reports, three people were also shot dead during the violence when protesters on both sides ripped up paving stones to hurl at one another.

Witnesses said that the police stood on the sidelines during the Odessa violence and failed to act even as people were dying.

Today, as the city came to terms with the violence a crowd of at least a thousand gathered outside the burnt out building chanting, "shame shame," "Russia," and "Putin."

The head of Odessa regional administration Vladimir Nemirovskiy said that, "citizens that try to neutralize and stop terrorists are in line with the law," while Euromaidan activist and nationalist Svoboda party member, Kateryna Kruk, tweeted that, "The city cleaned itself from terrorists fighting for its history. Glory to fallen heroes…"