- published: 24 Apr 2014
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Ukrainian forces killed up to five pro-Moscow rebels on Thursday as they closed in on the separatists' military stronghold in the east and Russia launched army drills near the border in response, raising fears its troops would go in. Under an international accord signed in Geneva last week, illegal armed groups in Ukraine, including the rebels occupying about a dozen public buildings in the largely Russian-speaking east, are supposed to disarm and go home. But they have shown no signs of doing so and on Thursday the Ukrainian Interior Ministry said its forces backed by the army had removed three checkpoints manned by armed groups in the separatist-controlled city of Slaviansk. "During the armed clash up to five terrorists were eliminated," it said in a statement, adding that one person had been wounded on the side of the government forces. A rebel spokeswoman in Slaviansk said two fighters had died in a clash in the same area, northeast of the city centre. The Kremlin has built up forces on Ukraine's border -- estimated by Nato officials at up to 40,000 troops -- and maintains it has the right to protect Russian-speakers if they come under threat, a reason it gave for annexing the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine last month. In St Petersburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that if the authorities in Kiev had used the army in eastern Ukraine, this would be a very serious crime against its own people. "It is just a punitive operation and it will of course incur consequences for the people making these decisions, including [an effect] on our interstate relations," Putin said in a televised meeting with regional media. Reuters journalists saw a Ukrainian detachment with five armoured personnel carriers take over a checkpoint on a road north of Slaviansk in the late morning after it was abandoned by separatists who set tyres alight to cover their retreat. However, two hours later the troops pulled back and it was unclear if Kiev would risk storming Slaviansk, a city of 130,000 that has become the military stronghold of a movement seeking annexation by Moscow of the industrialised eastern Ukraine. Tags: abc breaking news, bbc, bbc football, bbc iplayer, bbc news, bbc news america, bbc persian, bbc sport, bbc weather, bbc world news, breaking celebrity news, breaking election news, breaking late news, breaking local news, breaking music news, breaking news, breaking news alerts, breaking news canada, breaking news headlines, breaking news in atlanta, breaking news in nigeria, breaking news india, breaking news pensacola florida, breaking news plane crash, breaking news story, breaking sports news, business expensive news home media world, christian world news, cnn, cnn breaking news, cnn money, cnn news, cnn news breaking news, cnn news world, detroit breaking news, global news, headline, headline news, health care technology news, hot latest global news, internet technology news, las vegas breaking news, latest breaking news, latest celebrity news, latest information technology news, latest music news, latest news, latest news headlines, latest news update, latest sports news, live breaking news, local breaking news, local news today, msn breaking news, nbc breaking news, nbc world news, news of the world, news report us world, news today news, news updated daily, solar technology news, sports news today, technology news, the latest news, today news, us news and world, us news and world report, us news and world report magazine, us news and world report web site, us news world report, world news, world news daily, world news headlines,Ukrainian,Ukraine Protest,Ukraine Crisis,Ukraine Ex-Leader,Top World News,Today World News,World News Today,Latest Today World News.