A screen grab of YouTube video from Russian KP.ru TV showing two of the three men Slovyansk separatists claim are captured Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) agents.
An OSCE team of negotiators were paraded before the media in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, with a rebel leader calling them “prisoners of war”.
Radio Free Europe- Radio Liberty reported:
— An OSCE team of negotiators arrived in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk and began a meeting with local separatist leader Vyacheslav Ponomaryov to try and secure the release of the OSCE’s eight-member international verification team that was abducted two days ago.
— Separatists brought members of the captive OSCE team of military observers, whom they have variously labeled “prisoners of war” and “NATO spies,” before cameras.
— The Ukrainian Security Service acknowledges the capture of three of its employees after Russian television reports show three blindfolded, stripped, and seemingly beaten men being “interviewed” in the hands of separatists in Slovyansk.
— Pro-Russian separatists have seized control of the offices of the regional TV and radio company in the eastern city of Donetsk and raised the flag of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic over the building, following a rally in the city center.
— U.S. President Barack Obama says it’s “important for us to take further steps sending a message to Russia.”