Photo: Local residents bring flowers to place them on armoured personnel carriers in Slaviansk. (Reuters/ Gleb Garanich)
Ukrainian Soldiers Surrender Armoured Personnel Carriers To Pro-Russian Separatists -- ABC News (Australia)
Armoured personnel carriers driven into the eastern Ukrainian city of Slaviansk under the control of Ukrainian armed forces are now believed to be in the control of pro-Russian separatists after Ukrainian soldiers surrendered their vehicles.
A soldier guarding one of six troop carriers now under the control of pro-Russian separatists told journalists he was a member of Ukraine's 25th paratrooper division from Dnipropetrovsk.
"All the soldiers and the officers are here. We are all boys who won't shoot our own people," said the soldier, whose uniform did not have any identifying markings on it.
"They haven't fed us for three days on our base. They're feeding us here. Who do you think we are going to fight for?" he said.
Armoured personnel carriers marked with the numbers 815, 842 and 847 were among six under Ukrainian control in the centre of Kramatorsk early on Wednesday. They were later seen under the control of pro-Russian separatists in the centre of Slaviansk.
Read more ....
More News On Ukrainian Military Units That Were Sent To East Ukraine Now Defecting
Anti-govt protesters seize Ukrainian APCs, army units 'switch sides' (VIDEO) -- RT
Separatists fly Russian flag over Ukrainian armored vehicles -- Reuters
Russian flags flying in east Ukraine; defections disputed -- USA Today/AP
Combat Vehicles in East Ukraine Raise Russian Flag -- Wall Street Journal
Pro-Russians take control of Ukrainian troop carriers -- Reuters
Ukraine Is Said to Suffer a Setback in Bid to Confront Pro-Russian Militias -- New York Times
Personnel From 6 Armored Transport Vehicles Sent To Kramatorsk In East Ukraine Switch To Side Of Pro-Federalist Activists -- RIA Novosti
Three More Armored Transport Vehicles Join Federalists in Eastern Ukraine -- RIA Novosti
My Comment: I have been told by two separate sources that the Ukrainian soldiers that were sent into eastern Ukraine were told that they were being sent there to confront Russian special ops and provocateurs .... but instead they have been confronted by local citizens who have convinced many of them to defect. If reports of these defections are true ... this is a surprise .... the Ukraine government was only boasting yesterday that these were their elite soldiers.
Update #1: The BBC has just verified what my sources have been saying.
Update #2: The above CNN report is a must see .... even the reporter is surprised by the defections that have occurred.
Update #3: RT has a number of videos of armed and unarmed civilians confronting Ukrainian soldiers .... and of Ukrainian soldiers defecting. That link is here.
Comment #2: Someone who is there has just told me that these Ukrainian soldiers are just kids. They are not going to shoot civilians.
WNU Editor: A Hat Tip to commentator Mattathias for first informing me of this event.
1 comment:
They had probably decided to defect long before they got there.
Post a Comment