Western Ukrainian armored personnel carriers moved away from Slavyansk only 500 meters - Ponomarev
Slavyansk - Moscow - Kyiv, April 28 (Navigator - Mikhail Stamm) - Ukrainian armored vehicles moved no more than 500 meters away from the checkpoints at the entrance to Slavyansk, People's Mayor Vyacheslav Ponomarev told MK. 2,5 tank and 17 mechanized brigades from western Ukraine were thrown against 24 thousand militias.
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In anticipation of the assault, the city was noticeably deserted. Residents were asked not to leave their apartments or go near the windows if a shootout started. But the central square is still crowded. The townspeople came to the executive committee to support the militia. Few local residents doubt that a military operation will soon begin in the city itself.
Near the SBU building, which is defended by the militia, the MK special correspondent saw a Maxim machine gun standing on a stump, and several activists had a PPSh with a long horn, which had been out of production a long time ago. Among the militia, the author met a “tall, broad-shouldered” machine gunner who “lives in Moscow, but is himself from Slavyansk” and “returned to defend his home.”
Both Ponomarev and the militia are confident that the recent checkpoints were diversionary maneuvers, and in the meantime, groups of saboteurs were sent into the city. Residents of Slavyansk fear that saboteurs will dress like militias in order to infiltrate the defending buildings in the chaos.
The people's mayor continues to hope for help from Russia and does not rule out that in the event of an assault on the city's administrative buildings by Kyiv troops, captives of the militia "may accidentally die during a firefight."
Western Ukrainian armored personnel carriers moved only 500 meters away from Slavyansk – Ponomarev