Avakov: A special operation began in Slavyansk

In Slavyansk, the district center of the Donetsk region, a special operation began on the liberation of administrative buildings captured by separatists. This was announced on his Facebook by the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov. According to him, for stabilizing the situation in the city, forces are attracted from all the power units of the country, and leads the special operation of the SBU.

On the eve of three cities of Donetsk region - Slavyansk, Krasnoy Liman and Kramatorsk - separatists occupied administrative buildings.

In Slavyansk, they arranged a semblance of checkpoints at the entrances to the city. The checkpoints are built in the form of embankments of the tires installed on the roadway and the side of the road. Next to them are people who call themselves the "folk militia of the Donbass." There are four to five people at each post. At one of the posts on the eve, they did not miss a bus with the police into the city. The posts are exhibited on all three roads leading to the city - from the side of Kharkov, from the side of Donetsk -Kramatorsk and at the entrance from Artemovsk.

Over the executive committee of Kramatorsk on Saturday, the protesters raised the flag of the Donetsk People’s Republic. On Saturday, a rally of pro -Russian citizens was held in the city, during which representatives of the initiative group, having separated from the crowd, went through the convoy of law enforcement agencies and, entering the Executive Committee, hung a flag over the building. Avakov said that the confrontation between the protesters with the police in Kramatorsk resulted in a shootout. The minister did not report the victims during the clash.

In another regional district center, the city of Krasny Liman, according to Avakov, there was an attack by militants with short-barrel assault rifles of AK-100 on an administrative building. The attack was repulsed by the police and city warriors. The head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs emphasized that AK-100 machine guns with under-barrel grenade launchers are located only in the service of the Russian troops.

The so -called "supporters of federalization" of Ukraine hold protests in Donetsk, Kharkov and Lugansk every weekend since the beginning of March, refusing to recognize the new government of the country, led by Arseniy Yatsenyuk. In the last days, pro -Russian protesters captured several administrative buildings and erected barricades around them. They also announced the proclamation of the independent Donetsk Republic and the intention to hold a referendum on the status of the region.

Yatsenyuk on Friday in Donetsk held negotiations with representatives of politically and business circles of the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine. He agreed that the Verkhovna Rada should adopt a law on local referenda. He also emphasized the need for constitutional reform, which would expand the powers of the regions. Yatsenyuk emphasized that this reform needs to be carried out before the presidential election.