Residents of eastern Ukraine cities struggle to go on with life

[Sally]

What people who care about others should concern themselves with right now is what the ordinary Ukrainian citizen is having to go through. These people do not need a scapegoat, but are just trying to get through their daily lives with all the trouble going on there.

Residents of eastern Ukraine cities struggle to go on with life

The farmer slowly walked up the hill toward her barn, with her driver following behind in the minivan. She waved her arms to be seen by the Ukrainian paratroops guarding a nearby television tower. She knew her vehicle might look suspicious and hoped her desperate signals would convince the soldiers she meant no harm.

The paratroops had taken back control of the tower from gunmen two days before. It was a small skirmish in a conflict that has turned this town — and much of eastern Ukraine — into a battleground between pro-Russia separatists and the nation's struggling interim government.Caught between the factions, farmer Inna Zakharova — like so many Ukrainians in the east — is struggling to go on with life amid the chaos and violence.

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Residents of eastern Ukraine cities struggle to go on with life*-*Los Angeles Times

 

[waltky]

Heavy Fighting Rages In Eastern Ukraine...

Heavy fighting rages in east Ukraine
3 Jun 2014 ~ Kiev troops clash with pro-Russia fighters in Slovyansk for second day with casualties reported on both sides.

Fighting raged in eastern Ukraine for a second day as the army rolled out an offensive against pro-Russia separatists holding the city of Slovyansk, with dead and wounded on both sides, the Ukrainian government has said. On Tuesday, rebels in the town said they had brought down an armed aircraft and a helicopter, but this was denied by Ukrainian authorities. Twelve hours after Kiev's forces launched an overnight military operation in and around the separatist stronghold, where a military helicopter was shot down last week killing 14 servicemen, Vladyslav Seleznyov, a spokesman for the Ukrainians, said: "Today we have had two killed and 42 wounded."

He said that at least 300 people were dead or wounded on the separatist side, but Reuters news agency said that the number could not be independently verified. Seleznyov told Reuters on Tuesday that fighting was ongoing. Meanwhile, Ukraine also announced on Tuesday that a total of 181 people, including 59 servicemen, had been killed "by terrorist activity" since hostilities broke out in April. The fighting in Slovyansk followed a day-long fire-fight on Monday in Luhansk, a town further to the east on the border with Russia, after an attack by separatists on a border guard camp.

Last week, rebels in Slovyansk shot down a military helicopter killing 14 servicemen

At least two people were killed in the city centre of Luhansk, which like Slovyansk is under separatist control, by a blast which rebels said came from a Ukrainian air strike but which the Ukrainians said was caused by a misfire of a heat-seeking missile by the rebels. Al Jazeera's John Wendle reported heavy firing and bombings on the outskirts of the city, and that the area was blocked by the Ukrainian army

Seleznyov said: "At the present time the active phase of the 'anti-terrorist Slovyansk is going on near Slavyansk. The (separatist) fighters are being blocked. If they refuse to lay down their arms they will be destroyed." "Our job is to establish peace in the region and this we will do," added the spokesman for the military operation. "Information that Ukrainian planes and helicopters have been shot down are not true. Yesterday one of the helicopters received holes from small arms fire," he said.

'Quell rebellions'