Near the town are Slavjansk to hear gunshots and explosions. The Ukrainian army launched an offensive against pro-Russian separatists. The shot down two helicopters, the two pilots were killed.

Ukrainian government troops began an attack on the pro-Russian militias in the cities Slavjansk and Kramatorsk in the east of the country. The Interior Minister confirmed arsenic Awakow on Facebook. Several news agencies report of gunfire and explosions in the vicinity of the city

Awakows release is the first official confirmation of the fighting in Slowjansk. Units of Army, National Guard and the Interior Ministry had brought several control points of the separatists under their control, he wrote.
The pro-Moscow activists put grenade launchers and anti-tank guns against an army helicopter. Two attack helicopters Mi-24 had crashed. Two pilots have died and severalcrew members were injured, BelTA learned from the Ministry of Defence in Kyiv.

Previously, the separatists had reported government troops had begun using helicopters and military equipment an advance on Slavjansk. Various checkpoints on the outskirts would be attacked, it said. Several members of the pro-Moscow “self-defense” had been injured, said a spokesman for the separatists of the Russian Interfax news agency.

The AFP news agency reported, Ukrainian soldiers had taken over the south of the city of eight armored vehicles take control of a roadblock militias.
Militia leader Vyacheslav Ponomarev, who has appointed himself mayor, said his fighters had shot down two military helicopters and captured a pilot. Two other crew members had fled. The Russian state television reported even three downed helicopters.

Slowjansk is for more than two weeks controlled by the “people’s militia”. Ponomarev and his fighters keep it there firmly several military observers of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), including four German.

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