Xinhua News Agency
May 22, 2014
Ukraine’s Lugansk declares martial law, asks Russia for troops
KIEV: The leadership of the self-proclaimed “Lugansk People’s Republic” in eastern Ukraine declared martial law Thursday and asked Russia to send troops to “protect civilians”.
“I order the imposition of martial law and declare full mobilization on the territory of the Lugansk Republic,” Valery Bolotov, the self-styled head of the republic, said in a statement.
Earlier in the day, Bolotov released a video addressed to Russia’s leadership asking for “peacekeeping troops” in a bid to “resist aggression against civilians”.
“Ukrainian troops have committed an act of aggression against civilians, the illegitimate Kiev government is carrying out a punitive operation against Lugansk republic,” Bolotov said in his address.
He said the militia was not equipped to resist Ukrainian troops by itself.
Russian forces, which have been holding military exercises near Ukraine’s border, began returning to their bases Wednesday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
Armed activists in Lugansk and its neighboring Donetsk regions established “people’s republics” in early April and held referenda on their future status on May 11.
Organizers of the referenda later announced the overwhelming majority of voters favored independence.
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