nsnbc : Ukraine’s acting president Oleksandr Turchynov, on Wednesday, ordered the country’s military to “full readiness” due to “the real threat of aggression” from Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin and UK Prime Minister David Cameron discussed the situation in Ukraine over the phone.
During his meeting with regional administrations, Ukrainian acting president Olexandr Turchynov announced the he had ordered Ukraine’s armed forces on full readiness, reports Xinhua news agency, quoting Turchynov as saying:
“There is a real threat that the Russian Federation will unleash a war on the territory of continental Ukraine. That’s why our troops are in full readiness”.
Turchynov’s announcement comes as protests in southeastern Ukraine are spreading to additional towns and cities with protesters demanding a referendum over the status of their regions, propose a federalization of Ukraine with strong regional autonomy, and continue rejecting the post-coup government in Kiev as illegal. Turchynov blamed Russia for the attempt to destabilize the situation in Ukraine, while western mainstream media and politicians continue representing protesters as “pro-Russian” to imply Russian “agents” behind the protests.
Turchynov added, that he had given orders to create additional regional military units. The decision was made against the backdrop of a growing number of conscripts who fail to appear and professional troops who deny following illegal orders from Kiev. The situation splits Ukraine’s military, increasing the risk of a civil war.
There is reason to suspect that the “special regional military units” will be composed of members of the ultra right-wing Pravy Sector and the ultra-nationalist Ukrainian Liberation Army, UNA-UNSO, which has earned itself a reputation for committing atrocities during the Russia – Georgia conflict in 2008.

Axel Schneider. Capture German soldier from the German Federal Defense Forces Center for Verification Tasks.
International tensions about Ukraine grew further, last week, when local self-defense forces in the city of Slaviansk arrested eight soldiers from Germany, Denmark, Poland, Sweden and Czech Republic which were travelling in civilian attire, in an OSCE vehicle.
The Kiev and US governments denounced the protesters for kidnapping OSCE observers, while OSCE spokesman Claus Neukirch rejected that the soldiers are OSCE observers. Neukirch said they were in Ukraine, parallel to the observer mission and under the Vienna declaration.
While Ukraine’s acting president announced that the country’s military is on full readiness, the British Prime Minister David Cameron called up Russian President Vladimir Putin. Cameron urged Putin to “implement the Geneva Accord on Ukraine”. Cameron stressed the importance of finding means to de-escalate the situation ahead of Ukraine’s presidential elections on May 25, reports Xinhua, citing a Downing Street spokesman.
Camaron as said that the Geneva process “remained the best way of achieving this”. The news agency quotes the Downing Street spokesman as saying:
“The Prime Minister re-iterated our commitment both to the implementation of the Geneva Accord in partnership with the Ukrainian and Russian Governments, and to all Ukrainians in being able to participate in free and fair democratic elections”.
The Geneva agreement on Ukraine aims at the disarmament of all irregular armed groups in the country. While Kiev, the UK and its western allies continue stressing the presence of self-defense groups in southeastern Ukraine, and while US Secretary of State levies proven false accusations about the presence of Russian troops, there have been no efforts from the side of the UK, USA, or other of the countries who imposed sanctions against Russia to move Kiev towards disarming Pravy Sector, UNA-UNSO or other of the radical, armed organizations who supported the February armed coup.
Cameron and Putin reportedly agreed to continue working closely to find ways of de-escalating the current situation. However, Cameron “warned” Putin that “further serious destabilization in Ukraine would inevitably result in the imposing of far-reaching sanctions by the G7 and EU”.
Last week, Ukraine deployed over 11.000 troops to regions near the Russian border and an additional large contingent of troops which were deployed around the city of Slaviansk and other southeastern cities. The Russian Defense Ministry responded by readiness drills of troops in its border regions. Turchynov’s decision to put the armed forces on full readiness is the worst aggravation of the crisis so far, and gravely increases the risk of an armed confrontation between Ukraine and Russia.
Ch/L – nsnbc 01.05.2014
Source Article from http://nsnbc.me/2014/05/01/ukrainian-military-on-full-readiness-cameron-and-putin-discuss-situation-over-phone/