烏克蘭警察從親俄分子手裏奪回市政廳

Ukraine: Police Take Back a City Hall from Separatists, Army Repels Attack on Base

Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov says police have driven pro-Russian separatists out of the city hall in the eastern city of Mariupol.

Avakov said in a Facebook post Thursday that city officials are free to return to work. He gave no details how the building was retaken, but reported no casualties.

The government also says Ukrainian forces repelled an attack by armed separatists on an army base in the town of Artemivsk. One soldier was wounded.

Ukraine says it is re-launching what it calls "anti-terrorist" operations against armed pro-Russians who have taken over government buildings in about a dozen eastern cities. The separatists are demanding the right to vote on whether to split with Ukraine and join Russia.

U.S. President Barack Obama, speaking to reporters Thursday in Tokyo, Japan, said Russia is not abiding by the Geneva agreement to ease the crisis in Ukraine and says he is not hopeful the Russians will cooperate.

He said Russia has chosen not to take the "wise path" and faces stronger sanctions, while he says Ukraine has been taking the concrete steps agreed to last week in Geneva. That includes offering amnesty to pro-Russian separatists who leave the buildings peacefully.

烏克蘭內務部長阿瓦科夫說，烏克蘭警察把佔據東部城市馬裏烏波爾市政廳的親俄羅斯分離主義分子趕了出去。

阿瓦科夫星期四在臉書上說，市政府官員可以返回辦公了。他沒有細說警方是如何奪回市政廳的，但是他說沒有任何傷亡。

烏克蘭政府還說，東部阿特米斯克鎮一個軍事基地內的烏克蘭軍隊擊退了分離主義武裝分子的進攻。有一名軍人受傷。

烏克蘭說，他們再次對佔據東烏克蘭大約十幾個城市政府建築的親俄羅斯武裝分子採取他們所說的“反恐行動”。 這些武裝分子要求就是否脫離烏克蘭加入俄羅斯舉行全民公投。

美國總統奧巴馬星期四在日本對記者說，俄羅斯沒有遵守有關緩解烏克蘭危機的日內瓦協議，他還表示對俄羅斯合作不抱希望。

奧巴馬批評俄羅斯沒有做出明智的選擇。他表示可能對俄羅斯實施更嚴厲的制裁。他說，烏克蘭一直在實行上星期在日內瓦會議上確定的具體步驟。這些步驟包括赦免在烏克蘭東部地區佔領政府建築的親俄分離主義武裝分子。