RUSSIAN FORCES SEIZE GAS FACILITY INSIDE UKRAINE
March 15th, 2014Via: Telegraph:
Ukraine’s military mobilised to thwart an apparent Russian advance for the first time on Saturday night as Kiev sent paratroops to defend a gas facility near Crimea with tensions high in the hours leading up to Sunday’s independence referendum.
The foreign ministry in Kiev denounced an “invasion” by Russia’s forces into its mainland, when 80 Russian troops backed by four helicopter gunships and armoured vehicles seized the gas pumping station near the village of Strilkove on the Arabat spit, which lies inside the Kherson region just north of Crimean territory.
It was not immediately clear whether the Russian landing – which would be the first time Moscow has sent its occupying troops beyond the Crimean peninsula – was the beginning of an occupation or merely a probing exercise.
An unnamed Russian official said the incursion had been made to guard against “terrorist attacks”.
Russia’s foreign ministry claimed it was receiving “many requests” to protect people in Ukraine “These appeals will be considered,” a statement said.
