OSCE negotiators free one inspector from rebels
Slavyansk(Ukraine): OSCE negotiators late Sunday walked out of a rebel-occupied town hall in east Ukraine with just one of eight of their inspectors being held as “prisoners of war” by pro-Kremlin separatists. The two negotiators left the four-storey grey building in the town of Slavyansk with the freed Swedish officer, an AFP journalist on the scene saw.. The three made no comment to waiting reporters before driving away in a white car marked with an OSCE logo.
Negotiations continued for the release of the other seven European inspectors — from Germany, Poland, the Czech Republic and Denmark — and four Ukrainian army officers who were seized with them on Friday, a rebel spokeswoman told AFP.
European observers report no mistreatment
Slovyansk: A group of eight European military observers being held prisoner by pro-Russia insurgents in Ukraine appeared in public on Sunday and gave assurances that they were not being mistreated. Col Axel Schneider from Germany, who appeared nervous as he spoke for the group, stressed they were on a diplomatic mission under the auspices of the Organisation of Security and Cooperation in Europe when detained on Friday and weren’t spying for NATO, as the insurgents claim. “The mayor of this city granted us his protection and he regarded us as his guests,” Schneider told journalists in Slovyansk, the eastern Ukrainian city.
Pro-Russian militants take over TV station
Donetsk(Ukraine): Dozens of pro-Kremlin militants seized the regional television station in Ukraine’s eastern city of Donetsk. The insurgents, wearing camouflage uniforms and armed with baseball bats and knives, occupied the interior of the building, preventing anyone from entering, an AFP journalist at the scene said. Most wore a red armband bearing the name of the pro-Russian group Oplot (Bastion).