A third helicopter, an Mi-8 transport aircraft, was also hit and a serviceman w

ounded, the Defence Ministry said. The SBU security service said this helicopter
was carrying medics.
Eight hours after Reuters journalists in Slaviansk heard shooting break out and
saw one helicopter opening fire, the city of 130,000 was quiet, with shops shut
and armed separatists in control of the streets while Ukrainian forces in armour
ed vehicles had taken up positions on the outskirts of town.
Ukrainian officials said troops overran rebel checkpoints around the city in an
operation launched before dawn and it was now "tightly encircled". They pointed
to the heavy fire that hit the helicopters as proof of the presence of Russian f
orces, despite repeated denials from Moscow that it has troops on the ground or
is controlling the uprising.
Putin's spokesman heaped blame on the Ukrainian government, which took power two
months ago after pro-Western protests forced the Kremlin-backed elected preside
nt to flee to Russia.
Noting that Putin had warned before that any "punitive operation" would be a "cr
iminal act", Dmitry Peskov told Russian news agencies that this was what had now
happened at Slaviansk, where separatists seeking independence or annexation by
Moscow are holding seven foreign European military observers.