Ukrainian officer wounded in Crimea shooting: military spokesman

[jakeXT]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - A Ukrainian officer was wounded in a shooting at a military facility on the outskirts of the Crimean capital Simferopol on Tuesday, a military spokesman said, but it was unclear who was behind the incident.

"An officer was wounded in the neck," said Vladislav Seleznyov, a Ukrainian military spokesman in Crimea.

Some Ukrainian military facilities in Crimea have been under the control of Russian forces for several weeks after Russian troops poured into the Black Sea peninsula ahead of a referendum at the weekend that handed over control from Ukraine to Russia.

There was no immediate evidence that Russian soldiers were involved in Tuesday's incident, witnesses said.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/18/us-ukraine-crisis-crimea-shooting-idUSBREA2H1D720140318

---

Conflicting reports over shooting near military research center in Crimean capital

A shooting has taken place close to a Ukrainian military center in Simferopol, but verified details were immediately unclear, RT’s team on the ground reports.

As RT producer Lida Vasilevskaya arrived on the scene, the perimeter of the Ukrainian military topography and navigation center had already been surrounded by men in camouflage and the situation was "calm".

The Kryminform news agency, citing an unnamed local police source, reports shooting came from a house under construction opposite the center and targeted Crimean self-defense units as well the military center itself.

“Earlier today self-defense units were informed that a group of armed men had been discovered in a partially inhabited building,” a source from the ministry said. “As they were taking measures to check, self-defense units came under fire. One man was killed, one wounded,” the source explained, adding that shooting came “in two directions from one spot”.

http://rt.com/news/crimea-shooting-military-center-646/

Ukraine authorizes use of weapons

Ukrainian forces have been authorized to use weapons to defend themselves, Reuters reports, citing acting President Turchynov’s press service. Other sources have confirmed with Ukrainian military sources.

Update: The Ukrainian government has issued a statement authorizing use of arms.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/18/ukraine-crisis-putin-plan-crimea-annex-speech-russia-live

[WillyT]

1. And Another Has Died... If I'm Reading This Right...

Ukraine Officer Shot Dead In Simferopol, Crimea
Reuters/HuffPo | by Pavel Polityuk
Posted: 03/18/2014 12:14 pm EDT Updated: 03/18/2014 2:10 pm EDT

<snip>

KIEV, March 18 (Reuters) - A Ukrainian serviceman was killed on Tuesday at a Ukrainian base that came under attack in Crimea's main town Simferopol, the first death on the peninsula from a military clash since the region came under Russian control three weeks ago.

As news spread of the death of the serviceman, in an assault on the base by unknown attackers, Ukraine's pro-Western prime minister denounced it as a "war crime" and called for international talks to prevent an escalation of the conflict.

Ukraine's acting president said Russia was annexing Crimea in actions reminiscent of Nazi Germany's takeover of Austria and Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland in the run-up to World War Two.

Two prominent political forces that took part in three months of demonstrations that led to the removal of Moscow-backed president Viktor Yanukovich called for Ukraine to break off diplomatic relations with its ex-Soviet master Russia.

Ukrainian military spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov, speaking to Reuters by telephone from Crimea, said one serviceman at the Simferopol base had died of his wounds. A second man, a captain, was injured.

<snip>

More: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/18/ukraine-officer-shot_n_4986451.html

[jakeXT]

8. 2 deaths: 1 self-defense force 1 Ukrainian serviceman

KIEV, Ukraine (AP) - Gunfire at a Ukrainian military facility in the capital of separatist Crimea killed one serviceman and a member of a local self-defense brigade, a police spokeswoman was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

...

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Tuesday blamed Russia, saying the storming of the military facility showed that the dispute “has gone from the political stage to the military by the fault of the Russians.”

A local news agency recently formed by pro-Russian Crimean authorities gave a different account, saying that snipers fired on self-defense units that had arrived to check out a report of armed men and that one of the self-defense brigade was killed.

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/mar/18/ukraine-1-serviceman-killed-in-crimean-storming

[2banon]

2. Appreciate provision of different sources Jake

[blackspade]

3. I think it is time for an orderly withdrawl of Ukrainian forces.

Spike the guns, sink the ships, mount up, and go.
Otherwise they are going to be the victims of a RF manufactured 'incident' that will most likely lead to Ukrainian forces being wiped out by 'unidentified' armed men.....

[christx30]

4. I agree.

They should torch all the buildings, dump the fuel. Take everything that's not nailed down. Let Russia spend their money to rebuild.

[Berlin Expat]

5. And most

importantly, scuttle their navy in such as way as to make life very difficult for the Russians.

Definitely go with a scorched earth policy, and try to take out as much as infrastructure as they can when they leave (power lines, gas lines, water, etc.). Make it cost mucho $$$ for the Russians to repair it.

[jakeXT]

6. Sounds like sabotage and desertion to me /nt

[geek tragedy]

7. US troops withdrawing from Iraq were deserters by that logic.

You may want to think that one through again.

[jakeXT]

9. Ok, let's think. Was Iraq part of US territory, and was then occupied by somebody else ?

I think your analogy isn't fitting very well.

[geek tragedy]

12. Do you understand what desertion is?

If the Ukrainian military pulls its troops out of Crimea, that's a withdrawal, not desertion.

[jakeXT]

14. If

Ukrainian government refuses to remove troops from Crimea, prepares for war

...

“Crimea was, is, and will be our territory,” said Defense Minister Ihor Tenyukh in a statement delivered at the Ukrainian Crisis Media Center on March 17.

https://www.kyivpost.com/content/ukraine/ukrainian-government-refuses-to-remove-troops-from-crimea-prepares-for-war-339724.html

[christx30]

10. Sabotage, maybe.

But if the enemy is about to take over your base, you destroy everything you can. Don't let them get ahold of your weapons, fuel, facilities. Don't let them get anything they can use against you.
In this case, the country of Ukraine bought and paid for everything in the base. No reason to let the Russians get their hands on it.

[former9thward]

11. Love to hear from DU's armchair generals.

Russia would cut off Ukraine's gas and watch the country grind to a halt. See how that works.

[geek tragedy]

13. physician, heal thyself nt

[joshcryer]

15. Russia is pretending to be the good guy.

Can't cut off Ukraine without hurting Crimea. It will take up to two years to get Crimea hooked up.

But anything other than possibly sabotaging the ships would be seen as an act of aggression, putting the lives of the men at risk. And then the ships would have to be sunk very cleverly, perhaps an explosive with a long timer hidden very well.

[joshcryer]

16. Those guys are fucked.

[jakeXT]

17. Doesn't look like it will be easy

Defense Minister

Ihor Tenyukh (55) -- Rear admiral and former commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Tenyukh provoked Russian animosity in 2008 when he ordered vessels to block the entrance of the Russian Navy to the bay of Sevastopol during the Russia-Georgia War. Two years later, he was dismissed from his position by Yanukovych. Tenyukh played an active role during the Euromaidan protests, calling on members of the armed forces to defy "illegal" orders from the authorities. Lviv native and member of the nationalist Svoboda party.
http://www.rferl.org/content/ukraine-whos-who-cabinet/25279592.html

The man facing down Putin's aggression as secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council is Andriy Parubiy. He oversees national security for the nation having previously served as security commandant during the anti-government protests in Kiev.

Parubiy was the founder of the Social National Party of Ukraine, a fascist party styled on Hitler's Nazis, with membership restricted to ethnic Ukrainians.

The Social National Party would go on to become Svoboda, the far-right nationalist party whose leader Oleh Tyahnybok was one of the three most high profile leaders of the Euromaidan protests - negotiating directly with the Yanukovych regime.

Overseeing the armed forces alongside Parubiy as the Deputy Secretary of National Security is Dmytro Yarosh, the leader of the Right Sector - a group of hardline nationalist streetfighters, who previously boasted they were ready for armed struggle to free Ukraine.

http://www.channel4.com/news/svoboda-ministers-ukraine-new-government-far-right

[Catherina]

18. One sniper detained, the other on the run n/t

Last edited Wed Mar 19, 2014, 08:49 AM - Edit history (1)

[Catherina]

19. Video of the State Dept at its best (sarcasm), smirking with their fairytales

Dear State Department, with all the taxes we pay, can't you get better help?

More details here:

A White House spokesperson claimed that Russia ‘shot first’ in an incident in Crimea, which left two people killed near a military facility. But when asked to back the allegations with facts or at least explain herself, she just said to move on.

Russia considers the shooting a provocation, and Crimean authorities are openly saying that it bears resemblance to the deaths in Kiev in February, where snipers allegedly killed both protesters and police amid a bloody confrontation.

Commenting on the incident on her Twitter account, White House spokesperson Jen Psaki said:

Jen Psaki ✔ @statedeptspox
Follow

Stop the shooting in #Simferopol. Clear that #Russia shot first, and now must show restraint. #Ukraine @UkrProgress
7:35 AM - 19 Mar 2014

The US official’s statement may imply that she considers Russia as the culprit behind the provocation, but when RT’s Anastasia Churkina asked her to clarify the position on such serious allegations, Psaki became evasive.

http://rt.com/news/us-accuses-russia-shooting-981/

This is the same group of professionals that pulled the extremely dishonest stunt of *leaking* to their lead propaganda paper (the NYT that wrote lie after lie about Iraq and Venezuela), that Merkel said Putin was *unhinged*:

As for the German chancellory, it's not exactly endorsing the Times's account. Die Welt, the German newspaper, reported that "The chancellery was not pleased with the reporting on the conversation. They claim that what the chancellor said was that Putin has a different perception on Crimea, which is why she is pushing for a fact finding mission on the matter."

Government spokesman Jens Alberts told Claudia Himmelreich, a McClatchy special correspondent, exactly what the government said on Monday: no comment on the contents of the chancellor's confidential phone conversations -- with either Putin or Obama. In defining the German view, Alberts said he would "not dwell on reports and rumors of someone claiming she possibly said this or that. However, what is undisputed is that President Putin has a completely different view of the situation and the events on Crimea than the German government and our western allies."

A different view. Obviously. But unhinged?

So if Merkel didn't portray Putin as unhinged, why would the unknown Obama aide tell the New York Times she did? Because in the world of propaganda, successfully portraying your adversary as being crazy, without any rational backing to his actions, makes it unnecessary to try to understand the complexities or sensitivities of the issues. If Putin is crazy, then that's enough. We needn't think any further about what he has to say. And if the New York Times says he's crazy, that's good enough for the dozens of reporters who've come along since, repeating the comment to their millions of viewers and readers as if it was a confirmed statement.

...

http://www.miamiherald.com/2014/03/05/3975981/did-angela-merkel-really-say-putin.htm

[Cha]

20. Thanks.. good Luck to Ukrainians.