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American High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems being used in Ukraine are making an impact on the conflict there between Ukrainians fighting to preserve their national sovereignty and Russian forces who have illegally invaded that country. The M142 HIMARS system allows for the launching of multiple, precision-guided rockets. Already, the U.S. had provided eight of the systems to Ukraine and last week promised to send an additional four, for a total of 12 of the systems. During a background briefing today at the Pentagon, a senior military official said the Defense Department believes the HIMARS are having an indirect, but significant...

Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the self-styled people’s mayor of Sloviansk, is rumored to have been detained by the pro-Russia forces that are in control of the city.

At least 13 soldiers and an army general were killed Thursday when pro-Russian insurgents shot down a military helicopter outside the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk, interim President Oleksander Turchinov said. "I have received reports from Sloviansk itself that the terrorists shot down a helicopter carrying relief troops. Fourteen soldiers, including Gen. (Vladimir) Kulchitski, have died," Turchinov told Ukrainian media. Pro-Russian militiamen fired a bazooka at the helicopter near Sloviansk, the main pro-Moscow bastion in the Donetsk region, Turchinov said.

KYIV, May 5 /Ukrinform/. Militants in Sloviansk, Donetsk region, have shot down one more Mi-24 military helicopter, and nobody was killed in the crash, the press service of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has reported.

KYIV, May 5 /Ukrinform/. Terrorists have machine-gunned a minibus with security forces near Sloviansk, Donetsk region, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Interior Ministry has told reporters, according to the News of Donbas online newspaper. He said that an armored van was shot with Russian-made machine guns on both sides of the road, about a kilometer from Sloviansk, between two Ukrainian checkpoints. Nobody was injured or killed in the incident.

Ukrainian government forces are reported to have launched an operation in the city of Sloviansk. The city is a stronghold for pro-Russian separatists who are exerting increasing control over the eastern regions of the country. Separatists in the city and Russian television channels are reporting that the city is being stormed. News agencies report gunfire, explosions and a military helicopter firing on the outskirts of the city. The BBC's Sarah Rainsford, in eastern Ukraine, has spoken to Russian separatists who says fighting is taking place at checkpoints on the outskirts of the city - but she adds there is no...

Many pro-Russia rebels have been killed, injured and arrested in the Ukrainian government offensive in the eastern city of Sloviansk, interim president Oleksandr Turchynov has said.

Twitter has just exploded in tweets about a large Ukrainian attack on Slovyansk, from several directions. Air raid sirens went off about 15 minutes ago. First video out shows a flare, and a large explosion. More as it becomes available.

A collection of photographs that Ukraine says shows the presence of Russian forces in the eastern part of the country, and which the United States cited as evidence of Russian involvement, has come under scrutiny. The photographs were submitted by Ukraine last week to the Organization for Security and Cooperation, an organization in Vienna that has been monitoring the situation in Ukraine. Some of the photographs were also provided by American officials to Secretary of State John Kerry so he could show them when he met in Geneva last Thursday with his counterparts from the European Union, Russia, and Ukraine....

Theses photos [at URL] purport to show the same bearded Russian soldier (circled) in operation in Georgia in 2008 and Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in 2014 Photos released by the Ukranian government as "proof" of Russian soldiers on the ground in Donetsk leave many questions to be answered... The low-quality, annotated images were handed to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe on 16 April, as evidence that Russian "sabotage-reconnaissance groups" had been working with separatists in the Donetsk towns of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. According to a NYT article, the photos and their descriptions were "endorsed by the Obama administration"....

Ukrainian troops are storming an airfield in the eastern city of Kramatorsk, said anti-Maidan activists as cited by RIA Novosti. The activists added that several people were injured. Ukrainian troops approached the military airfield in armored personnel carriers between the eastern cities of Kramatorsk and Slavyansk, the people’s militia located at the airfield told RIA Novosti on the phone. “They started negotiating with the people’s militia, which is in control of the airfield. The shooting started unexpectedly. There are injured among the people’s militia, and there may be deaths,” they said. Other members of the militia have blocked the entrance...

Five people have been killed in a gunfight in Slavyansk, a city in eastern Ukraine held by anti-government protesters. The fatalities include three protesters and two attackers, who are believed to be from the Right Sector paramilitary. Read RT's live updates on Ukrainian turmoil The deaths came after a night attack on a protester checkpoint on the outskirts of the city. Four cars drove by the checkpoint and opened fire at the local residents manning it, killing two people and seriously injuring several others. “They approached with their high beam headlamps on. Our man went to them and asked not...

Russia's foreign ministry has expressed outrage at a fatal shooting incident in eastern Ukraine which it blamed on Ukrainian nationalists. Russian state media reported that five people were killed in a gun attack on a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian activists near the town of Sloviansk. Ukrainian officials said one died in a clash between "two groups of citizens". The incident comes as pro-Russian groups continue to occupy government buildings defying a deal to leave. Etrogrul Apakan, who heads the special mission of the Organization for Cooperation and Security in Europe in Kiev, said his deputy would be in Donetsk to...