Pro-Russians Killed as Ukraine Airborne Troops Take Back Kramatorsk Airport. Russians Say: “This is The Worse Case Scenario”

Ukraine is reporting that airborne troops have taken back Kramatorsk airport in Eastern Ukraine. The defense ministry has reported that all of the troops are accounted for and that none were killed during the “anti-terrorist” operation.

The RIA news agency quoted Russia’s foreign ministry as saying it is “deeply concerned” about reports of casualties.

“The reports we are getting cause deep concern,” the Russian foreign ministry’s human rights representative, Konstantin Dolgov, was quoted as saying.

“To all appearances, events are beginning to develop under the worst case scenario.”

Ukraine’s Interim President Oleksandr Turchynov says troops have taken control of the facility.

“At the moment a special operation is going on in Kramatorsk,” the Ukrainian defence ministry said.

The state security service has announced that a similar operation is under way in the town of Slaviansk, some 12 miles away. The two cities are among 10 locations in the Russian-speaking east where separatist rebellions have broken out.

Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of engineering the protests, something Moscow firmly denies. Dimitri Medvedev, Russian Prime Minister, has said that Ukraine is on the verge of civil war.

“I will be brief: Ukraine is on the brink of civil war, it’s frightening,” he said.

Jonathan Marcus, BBC defence and diplomatic correspondent, said:

The most dangerous moment in the Ukrainian crisis so far may well have arrived. The security operations undertaken by the Kiev government have been received by Russia with alarm. “Events are beginning to develop under the worst case scenario,” said one senior official in Moscow. As yet, amidst a torrent of social media and conflicting local reports, it is impossible to determine the extent of any casualties. But in a sense, it is not the facts but the perception of what is happening that matters.

Russia’s narrative has been clear. It sees itself as the champion of Ukraine’s Russian-speakers in the east. With separatists taking over buildings in several Ukrainian cities, the Kiev authorities have effectively been goaded into a response. The question now is whether that response will be seized upon by Moscow as a pretext for military action.

Russia has amassed troops on the border with Ukraine but Moscow insists it has no intention of invading Ukraine. Vladimir Putin insists however that Russia has the right to protect ethnic Russians in the Ukraine, the same assertation was made before the annexation of Crimea.