Ukraine’s Interior Ministry announced on Wednesday their forces liberated the town of Sviatogorsk from pro-Russian forces.
There were no victims and the ministry did not reveal details of the operation that succeeded. Officials said the town is important because it borders Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv. Those three cities have seen the majority of the uprisings by pro-Russian forces in east Ukraine.
Policemen for the ministry now patrol Sviatogorsk and the outskirts.
The neighboring city of Sloviansk is one of the most dangerous cities in Ukraine. Over sixteen people, including journalists and politicians, are missing from the area. The forces are holding American journalist Simon Ostrovsky, and Kremlin channel NTV accused him of being a Right Sector informant.
Kremlin channel NTV is accusing @SimonOstrovsky of being Right Sector informant, pointing to his dual Israeli-US cit. http://t.co/1Pcw6FUgGj
— Julia Ioffe (@juliaioffe) April 23, 2014
The Right Sector Party was classified as a terrorist group in Russia. The pro-Russian forces blamed the group for a shootout that occurred at a checkpoint near the city early Saturday morning.
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