Ukraine army helicopter shot down near Sloviansk
The BBC's Mark Lowen says that the incident is "a huge blow to the Ukrainian military"
Pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine have shot down
a military helicopter near Sloviansk, killing 14 people,
the country's outgoing president says.
Olexander Turchynov said the rebels used a Russian-made
anti-aircraft system, and a senior general was among the dead.
The town of Sloviansk has seen fierce fighting between separatists
and government forces in recent weeks.
President-elect Petro Poroshenko has vowed to tackle "bandits"
in the east.
The BBC's Mark Lowen in the region says Thursday's incident was
a major blow to the Ukrainian army as it pursues its offensive
against the separatists.
The helicopter was hit during heavy fighting between Sloviansk and
Kramatorsk, reportedly after it had dropped off troops at a military base.
President Turchynov said the 14 dead included Gen Serhiy Kulchytskiy,
head of combat and special training for Ukraine's National Guard.
- Born on 17 December 1963 in East Germany where his father served with a
- Soviet military contingent
- Began military career as a marine platoon commander at the Soviet Northern
- Fleet in Murmansk Region
- Moved to western Ukraine in 1992 and became deputy commander of a National
- Guard battalion in Ternopil
- Awarded the rank of major-general by President Viktor Yanukovych in
- August 2013
It is one of the worst losses of life for government forces in the conflict
so far. Last week at least 14 soldiers died in a rebel attack on an army
checkpoint near Donetsk, some 130km (80 miles) from Sloviansk.
Earlier this month the separatists shot down two army helicopters, also
near Sloviansk, killing a pilot and another serviceman.
Missing monitors
Mr Poroshenko, a confectionery magnate, won 54.7% of the vote in
last Sunday's presidential election, according to final results
announced on Thursday,
After the poll, he called the separatists "terrorists" intent on maintaining
a "bandit state". He vowed to tackle them "in hours", not months.
The helicopter had just taken off after transporting soldiers to a Ukrainian base
The conflict has intensified in recent days. The rebels say they lost
up to 100 fighters when they tried to seize Donetsk airport on Monday.
Sloviansk has long been the centre of heavy fighting. Pro-Russia
militiamen seized four international monitors there on Monday.
The four - a Dane, an Estonian, a Turk and a Swiss national - are
members of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in
Europe (OSCE).
The self-proclaimed mayor of Sloviansk, Vyacheslav Ponomaryov,
told Russia's Interfax news agency they were safe and well and could
be released soon.
The OSCE has said it does not know the monitors' whereabouts, but
Mr Ponomaryov told another Russian news agency they were being held
in the village of Makeyevka.
Pro-Russian separatists in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk declared independence after referendums on 11 May, which were not recognised
by Kiev or its Western allies.
The separatists took their cue from a disputed referendum in Crimea,
which led to Russia's annexation of the southern peninsula.
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