This Is What Happened in Ukraine Today

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Ukrainian soldiers lined up in front of pro-Russia civilians who where blocking a road on Friday in Andreevka, just south of Sloviansk, Ukraine.

Image: Manu Brabo/Associated Press

By Amanda Wills, Brian Ries and Christopher Miller2014-05-02 19:13:13 UTC

In eastern Ukraine, the sun has finally set on a long, violent day of fighting between the Ukrainian military and pro-Russia separatists. If you're just catching up, here's what happened.

Where Friday's major conflicts happened

Ukraine's military launched a 'large-scale operation'

Armed pro-Russia separatists — who are demanding a referendum on secession to join Russia — have been camped out in Ukraine's embattled eastern region, taking hostages and seizing government buildings. Last week, Ukraine's military launched what it called an "anti-terrorist" operation against separatists, but pulled back in fear that Russian President Vladimir Putin would green light an invasion.

However, just before dawn on Friday, Ukraine's military re-launched its troops, deploying them to checkpoints around the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk in an attempt to force the separatists to lay down their weapons, free hostages and relinquish control of government buildings. That's when things escalated...

Pro-Russia separatists shot down Ukrainian helicopters

Ukrainian soldiers stand at a checkpoint they seized early Friday morning in the village of Andreevka, near Sloviansk.

Image: VASILY MAXIMOV/AFP/Getty Images

During the assault on the cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk, pro-Kremlin separatists shot down two Ukrainian helicopters, killing the pilots on board, the country’s Defense Ministry said.

Meanwhile, Russian news outlets reported that a third helicopter was shot down by Kremlin-backed militia fighters. The third helicopter could not be confirmed, according to Mashable's Chris Miller, who is reporting from eastern Ukraine.

Other Ukrainian military personnel were wounded after the pro-Russia militants fired anti-aircraft missiles at the helicopters. In a post on Facebook, Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said nine illegal separatist-held checkpoints had also been destroyed, and that professional mercenaries were operating among the separatists.

Reuters reported that its photographer saw a Ukrainian military helicopter open fire on the edge of Sloviansk, while its reporter heard gunfire during the early morning assault.

Kremlin: The peace deal is done

After hearing about the Ukrainian military's action against the pro-Russia separatists, Putin's spokesman said the peace deal that the U.S., Russia, Europe and Ukraine hashed out in Geneva this March was pretty much over, Russia's Interfax news agency reported.

Putin's representative Dmitry Peskov called Ukraine's offensive “punitive” and said it effectively destroyed the “final hope” for that peace deal.

Ukraine's president admits things didn't go as planned

Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, said Friday evening local time that the attack on rebel checkpoints around Sloviansk had left "many insurgents dead, wounded and arrested," but did not give an exact number.

He admitted, however, that there were some hitches during the operation.

“The operation doesn't unroll as fast as we want it to, and is significantly complicated by the fact that the terrorists' bases are located in the crowded cities and the terrorists themselves hide behind the civilians, take hostages and shoot from the windows of apartment buildings,” Turchynov said. "The offensive on the terrorists goes on."

A new wave of violence breaks out in another Ukrainian city

Supporters of the Ukrainian government dig for stones during a clash with pro-Russian separatists in the Black Sea port of Odessa, Ukraine, on Friday.

Multiple people are dead in the southern port city of Odessa after violence erupted when a pro-Ukrainian group clashed with rival separatist supporters. One man was shot dead and several others were injured when the groups exchanged smoke grenades, paving stones and “explosive devices” during the bloody clashes, Ukrainian police said in a statement. Several people died from carbon monoxide poisoning while others jump from windows to escape burning buildings.

Live video from the scuffle in the mostly Russian-speaking seaside tourist town showed several people on both sides with bloody wounds to their heads and other parts of their bodies. Cars had their windows shattered. At least one building appeared to burn after a Molotov cocktail was tossed inside. There were reportedly pro-Russia activists inside the building.

Western journalists briefly kidnapped

Several Western journalists were taken captive by pro-Kremlin rebels on Friday while attempting to enter Sloviansk. BuzzFeed reporter Mike Giglio, his translator and his driver, and news crews from CBS News and Sky News were blindfolded, captured and interrogated for hours before being released.

Giglio told Mashable by phone in Donetsk that he had not been physically harmed by his captors, though he said that he was given a test before being released. “Then they made me pronounce, ‘garden,’” Giglio says, suspecting they were trying to judge if his pronunciation was American.

CBS News' Clarissa Ward said of her ordeal on CBS This Morning: "We were stopped and told that the commander needed to ask his commander whether we should either be let go or taken prisoner. From there we were then taken to another nearby tent where we were blindfolded with sort of cloth and masking tape, really quite tightly bound around our heads so we couldn’t see anything at all."

Ward said one of her male colleagues was beaten by their captors, but was not seriously injured. Both Giglio and Ward said translators with the group overheard their rebel captors debating whether to hold them as hostages before they were let go.

Meanwhile, world's biggest Ukrainian flag was raised

Amid today's violence throughout Ukraine, students from the eastern and western parts of the country showed support for the newly formed government by raising what is reportedly the world's largest Ukrainian flag. The flag, which was unfurled in the city of Lviv, was about 197 feet long and 131 feet wide.

Students in Lviv, Ukraine, hold what is reportedly the biggest Ukrainian flag in the world.

Image: YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP/Getty Images

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Topics: russia, US & World, World