The Guardian's Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn), in Slavyansk, describes the departure of Ukrainian troops by bus, after their capture by pro-Russian forces. "After spending several hours in Slavyansk city hall, which has been occupied by pro-Russian militia, at about 40 to 50 Ukrainian paratroopers marched out of the building and loaded up into two buses," Alec writes:
They said they were heading to the neighbouring region of Dnipropetrovsk, which is where their 25th regiment is based. Their six armoured personnel carriers stayed behind.
The troops carried rucksacks and many of them kept their weapons, but they looked defeated.
“What were we supposed to do? Shoot peaceful protestors?” one soldier told the Guardian when asked why they had chosen to leave.He said the soldiers were properly equipped and supplied, denying that they were going hungry.
Some of the Ukrainian troops stayed to join the pro-Russian militia, the soldier said. This was confirmed by a rebel commander, who declined to say how many had stayed. However, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reported earlier on Wednesday that 60 Ukrainian troops had gone over to the side of the militia with their armour.
The Ukrainian troops and armour had arrived in the nearby city of Kramatorsk on Wednesday morning, where pro-Russian militia met them. No shots were fired, and the column soon drove to Slavyansk with militia sitting on top, flying a Russian flag and the paratrooper flag.
Also on Wednesday, another column of Ukrainian armour was stopped in its tracks in a village outside Kramatorsk by a crowd of locals who bought the men bread and sausages.
Episodes of Ukrainian troops being stopped in their tracks by locals have played out several times in recent days.
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/16/ukraine-on-the-brink-live-blog-16-april