VICE News

First Evidence of Russian Boots on the Ground: Russian Roulette (Dispatch 26) (2x29)

: 17, 2014

On Monday, pro-Russia protesters stormed a police station in the eastern Ukrainian city of Horlivka. VICE News correspondent Simon Ostrovsky was with them as they seized the building. Inside, the demonstrators attacked a police officer accused of pushing someone off a ledge while the person was trying to display a Russian flag. Later that day, a video emerged on the internet showing a man purporting to be a Russian army colonel giving orders to officers in eastern Ukraine. This is the first bit of evidence that there might already be Russian boots on the ground in the country. (Update: The “colonel” was later debunked.)