Ukrainian serviceman killed in Crimea

Ukrainian serviceman killed in Crimea

Defence ministry says attack against military base in the capital Simferopol was carried out by "armed masked men". Last updated: 18 Mar 2014 18:51

A Ukrainian serviceman has been killed in an attack at a military facility in the Crimean capital Simferopol, the defence ministry has said. Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan, reporting from Kiev, said news of the soldier's death had been received with "shock" and that Tuesday's attack had escalated the situation, which he said was "hugely tense". Our correspondent said Ukrainian authorities described the dead soldier as a warrant officer, but a Crimean news agency, which cited a source in Ukraine's Interior Ministry, called the victim a self-defence fighter. It said self-defence fighters were shot by a sniper from an uncompleted building opposite a Ukrainian military base, which is flying a Russian flag. The defence ministry described those behind the attack in the peninsula as "armed masked men". Al Jazeera's Nick Schifrin, reporting from Simferepol, said there was evidence of bullet marks on the uncompleted building opposite the army base, suggesting some shots had been fired. "We saw what appeared to be Russian snipers leaving positions from a separate building that overlooks the base," he said. He said Pro-Russian crowds did not want journalists to cover the incident and tried to grab their cameras. A statement from the Ukrianian defence ministry said a decision had been made by the Commander-in-Chief and the acting defence minister to allow Ukrainian troops to use arms. Referendum The attack comes two days after Crimeans voted in a referendum to join Russia, drawing condemnation from Western nations and triggering sanctions against top Russian and Ukrainian officials from the European Union. Ukraine's Western-backed prime minister said after the incident tha his country's conflict with Russia was entering a "military stage". "The conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage," Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told an emergency government meeting. "Russian soldiers have started shooting at Ukrainian military servicemen, and that is a war crime." Russian troops took effective control of Crimea last month and supported Sunday's referendum. Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has condemned the "so-called" authorities in Ukraine, saying they had stolen power in a coup. The new leaders assumed power after months of protests that forced President Victor Yanukovich out of power. Ukrainians were protesting against his refusal to sign a trade pact with the European Union in favour of a credit line worth billions of dollars from Russia. Putin said Sunday's vote was in line with international law, reflecting its right for self-determination. He pointed at the example of Kosovo's independence bid, supported by the West, and said that Crimea's secession from Ukraine repeats Ukraine's own secession from the Soviet Union in 1991. He denied Western accusations that Russia invaded Crimea prior to the referendum, saying Russian troops were sent there in line with a treaty with Ukraine that allows Russia to have up to 25,000 troops at its Black Sea Fleet base in Crimea. Tough sanctions Putin's address to parliament came after he ignored the toughest sanctions against Moscow since the end of the Cold War and recognised the Crimean Peninsula as an "independent and sovereign country". He said in his speech that Russia had been suffering from unofficial sanctions since the end of the Cold War, despite the fact that formal restrictions had been lifted. Meanwhile, US Vice President Joe Biden and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk rejected Putin's remarks during a press conference held in Warsaw. "The world has rejected the flawed logic behind these actions," Biden said, adding that the Russian military movement in Crimea is "nothing but a land grab". At the beginning of a two-day trip to Europe that also includes a visit to Lithuania, Biden assured Poland that the US is a "steadfast ally" and that it will protect NATO allies on Russian borders, if needed. "Russia's economic isolation will only increase if it continues down this path, and we will see additional sanctions by the US and the EU," Biden said.

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Ukrainian serviceman killed in Crimea