"A spokesman for Vladimir Putin said the Geneva agreement to defuse the situation in eastern Ukraine was no longer viable after Kiev launched a military operation against the rebel-held city of Slavyansk.
The Ukrainian military launched its first serious offensive to retake the city, which is being held by pro-Russia militia, early on Friday morning. The rebel militia said Ukrainian troops had launched attacks on several checkpoints. Ukraine's defence minister, Arsen Avakov, said his forces had taken control of nine checkpoints to form a "tight ring" around the city.
Two Ukrainian helicopters were shot down and their pilots killed, both Russian and Ukrainian media reported. One militant was killed and another injured, according to the reports. Ukraine's security service said one helicopter had been brought down by a surface-to-air missile, citing this as evidence that Slavyansk's defenders were not just citizens who have armed themselves.
Four of those who had shot at helicopters were captured, Ukraine's defence ministry said, but rebel leader Vyacheslav Ponomaryov denied this.
"Basically, at the same time that Russia is taking pains to de-escalate and regulate the conflict, the Kiev regime has begun shooting up peaceful towns with military helicopters and has started a punitive operation, essentially destroying the last hope for the viability of the Geneva agreement," Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said.
"Earlier, when he was still in Minsk, Putin called the possible operation a criminal action. Unfortunately, the development of events completely confirms this appraisal."
Russia, Ukraine, the US and the EU agreed in Geneva last month on a series of steps to reduce tensions in eastern Ukraine, where pro-Russia protesters and militia have seized government buildings in at least a dozen towns and cities.
The agreement called on illegal armed groups laying down their weapons and vacating buildings in exchange for a broad amnesty, but since it was signed, Kiev and Moscow have accused each other of not pressuring their supporters to disarm"
Source: theguardian
