Two Attacks in Luhansk, Ukraine Leave at Least 10 People Dead

Two Attacks in Luhansk, Ukraine Leave at Least 10 People Dead
Mary Chastain

Luhansk was attacked twice on Monday. Pro-Russian forces attacked a Ukrainian border patrol post in Luhansk at 12:30AM and exchanged fire with each other for several hours. In the afternoon, an explosion occurred at the Luhansk Regional State Administration building.

The first attack ended after the sides agreed to a truce at 1:30 AM Kiev time to rescue the wounded. Ukraine’s border service said at least five pro-Russians were killed.

“We have 8 or 9 wounded. The attackers have five dead and 8 wounded,” said border post spokesman Oleh Slobodin.

The Kyiv Post reported:

On June 2, about 100 armed insurgents attacked the border guards’ coordination center near Luhansk around 12:30 a.m. The border guards exchanged fire with the insurgents over the next several hours, repulsing two attacks as the group swelled to 400 by 7 a.m.

Their goal was to “destabilize the capability of border guard servicemen to coordinate action along the Ukrainian-Russian border,” stated Vladyslav Seleznyov, counterterrorism operation spokesperson,  via telephone at a news briefing in the Ukraine Crisis Media Center.

At around 4:30 a.m., according to Seleznyov, aviation was sent to the area to assist border guards, but it was unable to open fire as the insurgents were concentrated between residential buildings. But once the fighter jet left the area, “the terrorists left their sheltered positions, which is when the jet returned to destroy their (exposed) equipment and positions,” he added.

The Kyiv Post also included these videos of the attack:

According to Radio Free Europe, the Kremlin-friendly channel LifeNews blamed Ukraine for the attack, specifically the Right Sector.

Russia chose the Right Sector as their scapegoat for everything wrong in Ukraine and even made it appear that the Right Sector presidential candidate was ahead in the polls during the presidential election. However, Dmitry Yarosh barely received 1% of the vote.

Five people were killed when a bomb exploded inside the Luhansk Regional State Administration building. Pro-Russian forces claim the bomb came from a Ukrainian warplane, but anti-terrorist operation spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkovsky said the bomb went off inside the building.

“The most probable reason for the explosion was careless and unskilled use of small arms and explosives,” he said.

Here are a few pictures and videos from the incident. It is important to note there is no confirmation if the attack happened from the air or inside the building.

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