Presidential candidate calls for army withdrawal from southeast Ukraine
MOSCOW. April 24 (Interfax) - Ukrainian presidential candidate Oleh Tsaryov has called on the Kyiv authorities to stop using the army against civilians in southeast Ukraine.
"The first attack (by the troops) against Slovyansk was repelled and the national guard armored vehicles are retreating. It is disturbing that every visit by U.S. officials to Ukraine is followed by bloodshed here. Already there are dead, although it is difficult to say how many," Tsaryov said on the Rossiya-24 television channel on Thursday.
"There has to be a responsibility for all this, for using the army against a civilian town," he said. "As recently as today kids there were still going to kindergartens and schools and now they have all been evacuated. The town is bracing for a war," the presidential candidate said.
As for the situation in other southeastern Ukrainian regions, "Mariupol was seized overnight by sporty youths who took advantage of the fact that the town council defenders were asleep. Some people were critically injured and," Tsaryov said.
This morning the building of the town council was approached by the Internal troops and the attackers left, he said "The internal troops are now gone as well, and the town council is held by the federalization supporters," Tsaryov said.
Currently, the Kyiv authorities "are doing everything to make sure there is bloodshed: they give orders and replace senior military officials who do not want to obey their criminal orders," Tsaryov said.
"The war (in southeast Ukraine) has not started yet despite the wishes of Kyiv and the authorities because the Ukrainian people, the Ukrainian citizens who serve in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and in law enforcement do not want to shoot civilians," Tsaryov said.
