EU, NATO call on Russia to 'stop being part of the problem' in Ukraine

EU, NATO call on Russia to 'stop being part of the problem' in Ukraine

After 10 days of on-going occupations and attacks on state institutions and government buildings in eastern Ukraine, an official in Kiev announces an "anti-terrorist" operation.

Masked men dismantle Ukraine's state emblem from the regional state building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Tuesday (April 15th). Kiev sent National Guard battalion troops to the Donetsk region on Tuesday to "stop terror" and "attempts to tear Ukraine to pieces." [AFP]

With Ukraine's legitimate government starting an "anti-terror" operation in the country's east, EU and NATO officials called on Russia "to pull back its troops from Ukraine's borders and "stop destabilising the situation in Ukraine."

According to Ukraine's National Security and Defence Council spokesperson Evgen Rojenyuk, National Guard battalion troops were sent to eastern Ukraine from Kiev on Tuesday morning (April 15th). He said the battalion was headed for the Donetsk region.

Ukraine's Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov said the operation "will be conducted step-by-step, responsibly, cautiously."

"The aim of these actions is to protect the citizens of Ukraine, to stop terror, to stop criminality, to stop attempts to tear Ukraine to pieces," Turchynov told parliament on Tuesday.

At the same time, EU and NATO officials called on Russia to "de-escalate the crisis … and make clear that it doesn't support the violent actions of pro-Russian separatists."

"Russia should stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution," NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen told reporters before the meeting with EU defence ministers in Luxembourg on Tuesday...