Russian troops manoeuvre on the border after Kiev government attempts to wrest back control of city

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

Thousands of Russian troops launched exercises along the Ukrainian border on Thursday and President Vladimir Putin threatened "consequences" after the Kiev government attempted to wrest back control from pro-Moscow separatists in the east of the country.

An operation by Ukrainian troops near the rebel-held town of Slavyansk led to clashes on the outskirts of the city in which Kiev claimed five separatists had been killed. Local reports suggested only two casualties and the small Ukrainian force did not enter the city centre.

After the skirmish, the government soldiers retreated to a checkpoint six miles out of town after what appeared to be a more symbolic than strategic move.

Photograph: Mikhail Klimentie, Ria Novosti/EPA

Putin's response was immediate. "If the Kiev government is using the army against its own people this is clearly a grave crime," he declared as Russian units from among the 40,000 troops massed on Ukraine's eastern border went on manoeuvres.

Russia's defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said the drills would involve ground troops and warplanes. Referring to the Ukrainian operation around Slavyansk, he said: "If today this military machine is not stopped, it will lead to a large number of the dead and wounded ...We have to react to such developments."

On Thursday the US accused Russia of reneging on the Ukrainian peace deal, and said it had "actively stoked tensions in eastern Ukraine by engaging in inflammatory rhetoric".

Officials in Washington angrily rejected Moscow's characterisation of the clashes with Ukrainian soldiers. "The Russians are actively distorting the facts to suit their own narrative," said state department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

Ukrainian soldiers carry out a raid on a pro-Russian roadblock in Karpivka, north of Slavyansk. Photograph: Pierre Crom/Sipa/Rex

Pictures from the border region showed Russian tanks and armoured cars on the move on trailers. Four people, including two civilians, were reported killed in collisions with armoured vehicles.

As the exercises began, Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, made a televised address to the nation in which he called on Moscow to pull back its troops from the border and "stop the constant threats and blackmail".

Ukraine's foreign minister, Andrii Deshchytsia, said the military exercises were much closer to the border than anticipated, telling the Associated Press the move "very much escalates the situation in the region."

In light of the experience of Crimea, in which Russian soldiers seized control of the peninsula before Ukraine could react, Deshchytsia said: "We will now fight with Russian troops if they invade Ukraine. Ukrainian people and the Ukrainian army are ready to do this."

His ministry called on Moscow to provide details of the military manoeuvres within 48 hours to the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which is monitoring the tense situation in the east.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, issued an urgent statement warning that the situation "could quickly spin out of control" and stressing that "military action must be avoided at all costs".

The operation in the leafy edge of Slavyansk, ordered by Kiev after two of its supporters were found dead there, appeared to be a limited probe of separatist lines. The troops destroyed several checkpoints and exchanged fire with pro-Russian militia. According to the separatists, one civilian waiting at a bus stop was killed and another injured.

But the column of Ukrainian armoured vehicles did not attempt to enter the city or to recapture Slavyansk's city hall, which the separatists have transformed into a sandbagged mini fortress.

The town's self-proclaimed "mayor" Vyacheslav Ponomarev said his forces had deflected the attack by "150 Ukrainian soldiers", with mines partly blocking their ingress across a field.

Vyacheslav Ponomarev, the self-appointed pro-Russian mayor of Slavyansk. Photograph: Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images

One member of the "Donbass people's militia" claimed residents had confronted the Ukrainian column, offering themselves as a human shield. "They stood in front of the armoured vehicles. After that the soldiers stopped. Then they started to leave," Alexander Tezikov, 39, told the Guardian, citing sources inside the rebel militia.

Stella Khorosheva, a spokeswoman for the Slavyansk insurgents, said the pro-Russia militia later regained control of the disputed checkpoints. "We will defend ourselves to our last drop of blood. We are ready to repeat Stalingrad," she told Associated Press

There are signs that following weeks in which it has seemed powerless, Kiev's government is now pushing back against pro-Russian forces. Armed government militia were visible at several new checkpoints between Donetsk, the regional capital, and Slavyansk.

Ukraine's interior minister, Arsen Avakov, claimed Ukrainian special forces had retaken the town hall in the port city of Mariupol, but that could not be independently confirmed.

In a rare positive development amid relentlessly rising tensions on Thursday, a US journalist held by Ponomarev's insurgents for several days for alleged "one-sided reporting" was released. Simon Ostrovsky of Vice News confirmed to Associated Press he had been released and was heading for Donetsk but gave no details of his seizure or his release.

US journalist Simon Ostrovsky is heading for Donetsk after being held by insurgents for several days. Photograph: Alexander Khudoteply/AFP/Getty Images

The sally against Slavyansk was the boldest element in Kiev's declared "anti-terrorist" operation against pro-Russian forces who have occupied a string of municipal buildings in 10 eastern towns and cities since 6 April. But by evening, after the Ukrainian soldiers had pulled back, pro-Russian militia had returned to checkpoints in the north-west of the city, flattened earlier in the day.

To the south, roadblocks flying the Russian tricolour and the flag of the "Donetsk People's Republic" were untouched. Schools, shops and kindergartens inside the city remained shut. Senior Ukrainian officials remain twitchy against a backdrop of menacing rhetoric from Putin, and the border manoeuvres. Unconfirmed rumours of helicopter incursions across the frontier caused temporary alarm.

The editor-in-chief of the Kremlin-backed broadcaster Russia Today, Margarita Simonyan, tweeted: "Ukraine: RIP."

The Ukrainian government complained bitterly about remarks made by the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, on Wednesday in which he compared the situation to the Georgian region of South Ossetia, which Russia invaded in 2008 following Georgian government shelling of separatists there.

"If our interests, our legitimate interests, the interests of Russians have been attacked directly, like they were in South Ossetia, I do not see any other way but to respond in full accordance with international law," Lavrov said.