Russian Tanks Flatten Ukrainian Town, Ukraine Military Says

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37. 28 volunteer soldiers trapped in Ukrainian town by separatists escape, officials say

MARIUPOL, Ukraine — A group of Ukrainian volunteer soldiers managed to escape Saturday from Ilovaysk, a southeastern town that has been besieged by pro-Russian separatists for almost a week, Ukrainian officials said.

Ukraine’s interior minister, Arsen Avakov, announced that 28 of the more than 200 fighters trapped in the town had escaped, but the military did not explain how that had been accomplished — or offer details about plans to evacuate the rest of the troops.

“There’s an operation to withdraw our military from there,” spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko said Saturday. “The major task now is to evacuate our military with the least losses.”

The soldiers have been cornered in the town since Monday, surrounded by separatists they say have been freshly supplied with troops and high-tech weapons from Russia. Food and ammunition have dwindled, and the death toll has been mounting.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/28-volunteer-soldiers-trapped-in-ukrainian-town-by-separatists-escape-officials-say/2014/08/30/bea0daae-304c-11e4-9b98-848790384093_story.html