<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"KIEV, Ukraine \u2013 While most Ukrainians on Sunday congregated at cathedrals and ate traditional frosted cakes to celebrate Easter, those in Sloviansk were trying to get to the bottom of a deadly confrontation that unfolded at a checkpoint manned by pro-Russian militants at the city\u2019s edge earlier in the morning.\nThe details are murky and official information from the Ukrainian and Russian sides stand in stark contrast to each other. One calls the incident a staged provocation to incite further unrest, while the other says it was an attack carried out by a radical nationalist group.\nSee also: Riot Gear: How Protesters Around the World Suit Up\nWhat is known is this: sometime around 3 a.m. Kiev time, bursts of gunfire rang out at a rural roadblock near Sloviansk in Ukraine\u2019s industrial eastern heartland \u2013 where pro-Russian separatists have seized government buildings, taken up arms and demanded referendums on seceding from Ukraine. At least three people were killed and several others injured.\nThe deadly incident \u2013 whether staged or a sham \u2013 shattered a holiday armistice agreed upon by authorities in Kiev and Moscow on Saturday and threatened to undermine a deal hashed out in Geneva several days ago to defuse the ongoing crisis here.\nIt also has Russian and Ukrainian authorities exchanging accusations with one another.\nThe first news of the gun battle came from Russian state media, which reported as many as five people killed. A correspondent for the state-run news station Rossiya 24 said four cars approached the checkpoint in the early morning hours and opened fire at the militiamen guarding it, killing three of them instantly and seriously injuring another. Two \"attackers,\" the correspondent said, were shot and killed by the pro-Russian guards.\nSeveral of the Kremlin-sponsored news outlets showed images of spent cartridges strewn about the road and two bullet-riddled burned out vehicles at the rural scene. They blamed the far-right nationalist group Right Sector for instigating the shootout.\nLife News, a pro-Moscow Russian news outlet, showed footage of what it said was the body of one man killed in the shootout lying next to high-powered rifles, ammunition, satellite images of Sloviansk and several $100 bills purportedly left at the scene by Right Sector members as they fled. \n\nBurnt cars taken away from #Sloviansk checkpoint where shooting occurred last night. @HromadskeTV pic.twitter.com/vYwzmMUEtX |EMPR Photo\n\u2014 Euromaidan PR (@EuromaidanPR) April 20, 2014\n\nLife News also said a business card of Right Sector leader and presidential candidate Dmitro Yarosh had been left at the scene by the \u201Cattackers,\u201D proving the group\u2019s involvement.\nIn a post on Facebook, prominent Right Sector member Borislav Bereza denied that his organization had anything to do with the gun battle, calling Life News a \"cesspool\u201D and saying that the news outlet has \u201Cnever published the truth.\u201D\nRight Sector spokesperson Artem Skoropadsky called the accusation a \"blasphemous provocation from Russia: blasphemous because it took place on a holy night for Christians, on Easter night. This was clearly carried out by Russian special forces.\"\nThe clean appearance of the weapons and the crispness of the satellite images and cash quickly fueled speculation on social media and in Ukraine\u2019s government that the scene was an elaborately staged hoax meant to justify Russia\u2019s motives for intervening in eastern Ukraine \u2013 the protection of ethnic Russians from radical far-right extremists empowered by their role in overthrowing former President Viktor Yanukovych in February.\nMoscow used the same pretense in March when it seized and then annexed Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula that had been part of Ukraine for more than 60 years.\nUkraine\u2019s security service, known as the SBU, said the Sunday morning shootout was a \u201Ccynical provocation\u201D on the part of the Russians and that the whole thing had been elaborately \u201Cstaged.\u201D \nThe country\u2019s Foreign Ministry went further, charging  Dmitry Kiselev, head of Russia Today news agency and known to critics as the country\u2019s \u201Cchief propagandist,\u201D with masterminding the event in order to foment more unrest in Ukraine\u2019s restive east.\nIt also alleged that the bodies of those killed were taken by some 12 men and driven by car in the direction of Kharkiv \u2013 Ukraine\u2019s second largest city - so that they could not be examined. \nRussia's Foreign Ministry lashed back, saying the violence indicates Kiev\u2019s unwillingness to follow through with a deal agreed upon by the two countries, along with the United States and the European Union, several days ago in Geneva during a meeting to discuss the steps needed to deescalate the crisis here.\nAs part of the deal, Russia would use its influence to get armed separatist groups in eastern Ukraine to end their occupation of government buildings, which they seized over the course of the past two weeks, and turn in their weapons. Ukraine meanwhile would crack down on militant groups, such as the Right Sector, and force them to give up their arms. Both sides also agreed to a truce over the course of Easter weekend.\nBut the fragile truce appears to have been broken.\n\u201CThe Eastern ceasefire was violated in Sloviansk on April 20. As a result of an armed attack by the so-called Right Sector innocent civilians died,\u201D Russia's foreign ministry said in a statemen.\n\u201CThe Russian side is outraged with the provocation, which indicates that Kiev is unwilling to put in check and disarm nationalists and extremists.\u201D \nVyatcheslav Ponomarev, a local separatist leader and self-appointed \u201CPeople\u2019s Mayor of Sloviansk,\u201D asked Russia on Sunday afternoon to send peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine to protect civilians from the country\u2019s National Guard and Right Sector militants. He also placed a curfew on the city, barring residents from being outdoors from midnight to 6 a.m.\n\u201CThey kill our people. They don\u2019t talk to us but just kill,\u201D Ponomaryov said at a press conference on Sunday. \u201CThe town has actually been besieged by the Right Sector.\u201D\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.\n      window._msla=window.loadScriptAsync||function(src,id){if(document.getElementById(id))return;var js=document.createElement('script');js.id=id;js.src=src;document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0].parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);};\n_msla(\"//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js\",\"twitter_jssdk\");"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/04/20/ukraine-gun-battle/>