16 Ukrainian soldiers dead, many more wounded in deadly attack

What a sad waste of life. Hadn't we heard two days ago that the coup government had ordered all the troops leave  the conflict areas? So how come some were still kept hanging around? The pro-Russian honcho in the area is claiming the attack was not carried out by his militants but from the hard right nationalists who wanted revenge on the Ukrainian soldiers for not doing their job of killing pro-Russians. 

Just like in Syria, both sides are now blaming each other. This is so becoming like the Syrian mess. According to some reports, more than 10K Ukrainians are already displaced and thousands more are leaving for neighbouring countries where they have relatives. Wars create division between families, people and countries .... but I guess all those weapon manufacturers need to sell their wares, right? 

Ivan Sekretarev and Peter Leonard at AP:
....Deadliest day for Ukraine troops: 16 slain in raid. 
In the deadliest raid yet on Ukrainian troops, pro-Russia insurgents attacked a military checkpoint Thursday, killing 16 soldiers, and the interim prime minister accused Moscow of trying to disrupt the upcoming election for a new president to lead the divided country out of its crisis.

A rebel commander said one of his fighters also died in the raid in eastern Ukraine, which left a gruesome scene of charred military vehicles and scorched bodies near the town of Volnovakha, 30 kilometers (20 miles) south of the city of Donetsk.

Witnesses, including a medical worker, said more than 30 Ukrainian troops were wounded, with some in grave condition. Fighting also raged in at least two other villages............

........A leading rebel commander claimed responsibility for the raid. In the courtyard of the occupied police headquarters of the town of Horlivka, he displayed seized Ukrainian weapons and the passports of what he said were two of the dead soldiers. He also provided coordinates about the location of the attack shortly after it had occurred. There was no way to confirm his claim independently.

"We destroyed a checkpoint of the fascist Ukrainian army deployed on the land of the Donetsk Republic," said the commander, who wore a balaclava and insisted he be identified by his nom de guerre, "Bes" - Russian for "demon." He said one of his men also was killed.

Pavel Gubarev, a representative of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic, denied its men had carried out the attack, however. Gubarev, who does not appear to have much influence with the separatist group, appeared on Russian TV and accused Ukrainian nationalists from the group Right Sector of firing on Ukrainian soldiers because they had refused to attack civilians...............