Rocket attack in residential area of Kramatorsk kills at least six in Ukraine

#kramatorsk #horlivka #ukraine #rocketattack #poroshenko A rocket attack was launched by pro-Russian activists on a residential area of Ukraine leaving at least six civilians dead as reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 11 February 2015. In addition to the deaths, more than 20 explosions were seen striking homes and buildings during the two minute attack on Kramatorsk. This is a town located about 30 miles from the front lines.
Also hit was the Ukraine's military headquarters in the east of the country – it is from here that the military of Kiev directs its campaign against pro-Russian separatists.
As per local officials, apart from at least six people being killed in the bombardment, another 21 are reported injured. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has informed parliament that Russian-backed rebels had launched an artillery strike on the town. In his words – ‘… the main headquarters of our anti-terrorist operation took a strike from a Tornado rocket. The headquarters took this strike, but a second strike was carried out on residential areas of Kramatorsk…’.
The government-controlled Donetsk regional administration has clarified that the rockets had been fired from the rebel-controlled Horlivka area – this is located about 50-Km from Kramatorsk which was the site of major fighting until July when pro-Russian separatists retreated.

US wants to arm Ukraine against the pro-Russian rebels

#johnkerry #minsk #prosussian #poroshenko #ukraine In view of the continued violence in Ukraine and the failure of peace talks in Minsk, the US is contemplating possibilities of arming Ukraine to enable them to fight against the pro-Russian rebels as indicated in theguardian.com dated 2 February 2015.
It is understood that proposals are under consideration in the US for providing defensive weapons and equipment to Ukrainian forces. Already the five-month truce has been broken. US secretary of state John Kerry and US joint chiefs chairman Martin Dempsey were open to discussions on such a line of action and NATO military commander General Philip Breedlove is also supportive of providing such lethal aid.
Even US national security adviser Susan Rice, who was opposed to such ideas, feels such action is needed in the present context.
John Kerry would be visiting Kiev for talks with President Petro Poroshenko and other Ukrainian officials. It may be recalled that in spite of months of sanctions on Russia, it has had no effect and Russia continues to arm the pro-Russian rebels. Till now, White House has not gone in for providing military aid to Ukraine in order to avoid provoking Russia.
However, with the adamant attitude of Russia, US could review the current scenario and could change its stance. The tentative plan appears to be to send $3bn in defensive arms and equipment to Ukraine, including anti-armor missiles as well as reconnaissance drones.