Ukraine Conflict Flares as Government Fights ‘Oligarch’ Crisis
Fighters of the Azov Battalion prepare to fire an anti-tank weapon in the town of Shyrokyne, eastern Ukraine on Sunday, March 23. Government and Russian-backed separatist forces face off against one another across an unseen line cutting through the town in daily gun and artillery battles.
Photographer: Mstyslav Chernov/AP PhotoClashes between government troops and rebels intensified in southeast Ukraine, undermining a cease-fire as the country’s government vowed to prevent an “oligarch-supported political crisis.”
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said his government would crack down on “total corruption and smuggling,” and the cabinet gave private security services 24 hours to disarm after a group of men seized state-controlled oil company Ukrnafta. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, responsible for monitoring a Feb. 12 cease-fire signed in Minsk, Belarus, condemned a flare-up around the village of Shyrokyne, near the Sea of Azov port Mariupol.