Around 20 self defense members killed, four captured in Mariupol - Ukraine's interior minister
Around 20 self defense members were killed and four were captured in Mariupol during the fight at the city police department, while law enforcement authorities have one dead and five injured, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in comments delivered by Interfax, The Voice of Russia reports.
"About 20 terrorists have been killed and four have been captured. A significant part of the attackers fled to residential quarters, having left arms. Our losses are one dead and five injured. The losses among armed forces personnel are being specified," Avakov has just posted on his Facebook account.
According to the minister, a group of militiamen, as he calls Ukraine's self defense units, of around 60 people armed with automatic weapons attempted to attack the Mariupol city police department. "An attempt has been made to seize the building without any preliminary demands.
A fight occurred in the building, which turned into a full-scale battle as reinforcement of the armed forces and the Omega subdivision of the National Guards approached. As a result of the fight, in which subdivisions of the National Guards and armed forces, and Azov special subdivisions of the Interior Ministry took part, a considerable share of terrorists were killed," Avakov said.
The police department building is on fire, he said. Subdivisions, which participated in the forceful operation, received reinforcement from other regions, the minister said.
Meanwhile, according to the Mariupol self-defense forces, the Ukrainian law enforcement authorities tried to storm the police department, where police officers, who refused to obey orders from Kiev, barricaded themselves. "Police employees were in the main internal affairs directorate at the moment of the fire. Law enforcement employees, including women, were evacuated urgently. Many had to jump out of windows," local mass media outlets reported.
The Mariupol police department has burnt down completely, the 0629.ua portal reported citing posts of Verkhovna Rada Deputy Oleg Lyashko in social networks. "Snipers have killed commander of the Dnepropetrovsk brigade Sergey Demydenko. Commander of the National Guards unit Sergey Sabynskiy has been wounded seriously," the portal reported.