Ukrainian Troops Defend Base: 3 Pro-Russians Killed, 13 Wounded

On the night of April 16 Ukrainian troops were able to repel an “attack against their base in the southeast city of Mariupol.”

According to AFP, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the Ukrainians killed three pro-Russian “assailants” and wounded 13 others in the process.

Mariupol is a Black Sea port, and the base that came under attack was a Ukrainian National Guard installation in that port.

According to the Associated Press, the group that attacked the base numbered approximately 300 people who were “armed with stun grenades and fire bombs.” Their attack, coupled with the Ukrainian efforts to repel them, marked “the bloodiest episode to date in the month long insurgency.”

The attackers appeared masked and “battle ready,” and Russian President Vladimir Putin was questioned as to whether Russian special forces were “fomenting the unrest” that led to the attack.

He rejected that line of thinking as “nonsense,” adding: “There are no Russian units, special forces or instructors in the east of Ukraine.”

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