KIEV, Ukraine — Shots were fired and two people were reportedly killed during an assault by armed men on a Ukrainian military facility outside the Crimean capital Simferopol on Tuesday. It was the first bloodshed since Russian troops seized the Black Sea peninsula in late February.
In response to the assault, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that soldiers were allowed to use their weapons to protect their lives.
See also: Crisis in Crimea: A Story Map of the Place Everyone's Watching
Vladyslav Selezniov, Ukrainian Defense Ministry's head of communications for Crimean region, reported on Facebook that one Ukrainian officer was shot dead during the incident, while the Crimean news agency, citing a source in Crimea’s regional interior ministry, said one pro-Russian Crimean self-defense fighter was killed and another injured.
“One person was killed during the assault on photogrammetric information centre No. 13," Selezniov said. "This Ukrainian serviceman was on duty on the grounds of the territory of the base."
The self-defense fighters were reported shot by a sniper from an uncompleted building opposite a Ukrainian military base, Crimean news agency reported. The violence came only hours after Vladimir Putin delivered a fiery speech making his intentions for Crimea clear: Moscow will absorb the breakaway territory.
Moments after delivering the speech to an audience of Russia’s elite that included members of both houses of parliament and regional governors inside the Grand Kremlin Palace’s St. George’s Hall, the Russian president signed a treaty with Crimean leaders allowing the Black Sea peninsula to become a part of Russia.
As they put pen to paper, the jubilant and patriotic crowd roared, chanting “Russ-i-ya!” and applauding in unison before belting out the Russian national anthem. One woman in the cried was seen wiping tears of joy from her eyes during the event, which was broadcast on live television.
Russia’s parliament and Constitutional Court were expected to ratify the agreement later on Tuesday, completing the process of bringing Crimea into the fold of the Russian Federation.
Reacting to Putin’s speech, Ukraine’s interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk warned “Ukraine's conflict with Russia has transformed from political to a military one.” He added: "Today, Russian soldiers began shooting at Ukrainian servicemen, and this is a war crime without any expiry under a statute of limitations."
Despite Yatseniuk's remarks, there was no immediate evidence that Russian soldiers were involved in Tuesday's incident, witnesses said.
Heightening tensions even further, the Defense Ministry spokesman also said that all Ukrainian troops at the Simferopol base had been placed under arrest with their IDs, weapons and money confiscated.
In his speech, Putin said Crimea was the “common property” of Russia and Ukraine, and a very important factor in the stability of the region.
“This strategic territory should be under a strong, sovereign state and that in fact can only be Russia,” he said.
Putin refused to acknowledge that Russian troops had invaded Crimea in late February, ahead of the referendum. He said the armed forces donning unmarked uniforms that seized control of the peninsula were Crimean “self-defense forces,” and thanked them for their service.
“Esteemed residents of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, all of Russia admires your fortitude, dignity and courage. It is you who have resolved the fate of Crimea,” he said, referring to the warm-water port where the Russian Black Sea Fleet is based.
Addressing directly the Ukrainian people, Putin tried to put to rest fears that Russia would invade eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, which are largely Russian-speaking and have significant ethnic Russian populations. Tensions between Moscow sympathizers and supporters of Kiev’s new government there have boiled over into violence in recent days, leaving at least 3 dead.
“We have always respected the territorial integrity of Ukraine. Don’t trust those who are trying to scare you with Russia,” Putin said. “They say we want to break off other regions of Ukraine. We don’t need that.
“Kiev is the mother of Russian cities. Ancient Rus is our roots. We cannot live without one another.”
Vladimir Putin has met with Vladimir Konstantinov, Sergei Aksyonov and Alexei Chaly http://t.co/nrjvXmGquh pic.twitter.com/0cGJTsbOEr
— President of Russia (@KremlinRussia_E) March 18, 2014
Putin’s speech and his signing of the Crimean treaty comes two days after a March 16 referendum in Crimea, in which nearly 97% of Crimeans who cast ballots chose to join Russia, and a day after Putin signed a decree recognizing the region as a sovereign state.
See also: As Crimea Celebrates a Crucial Vote, Uncertainty Fills the Streets
Putin called the Crimean vote fair and democratic, saying that the outcome illustrated the will of the Crimean people, while Ukraine’s government dubbed it a “circus.”
“The referendum took place in full accordance to the democracy standards and international law. The numbers are more than persuasive,” Putin argued on Tuesday.
The West has claimed it violated international law and failed to meet democratic standards.
In an address from the White House briefing room over the weekend, U.S. President Barack Obama called the referendum “illegal.”
“The international community will continue to stand together to oppose any violations of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity, and continued Russia military intervention in Ukraine will only deepen Russia's diplomatic isolation and exact a greater toll on the Russia economy,” Obama said.
In response to the vote, the U.S. and the European Union on Monday slapped sanctions, including asset freezes, on several Russian and Ukrainian officials involved in the Crimean crisis, with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden during a Tuesday visit to Poland designed to show the country’s firm stance against Russia's intervention in Ukraine on warning that more would come if Russia continues to flout international law.
But in his speech on Tuesday, Putin made it clear he would not back down to Western pressure, spending much of it chiding the West for its staunch criticism of Russia’s actions in Crimea.
“They’re trying to drive us into a corner because we’re not hypocritical and tell it like it is,” Putin said, referring the U.S. and EU. “But there’s a limit to everything."
"Today we need to stop the hysterics, reject Cold War rhetoric and recognize that Russia has national interests that need to be taken into account and respected."
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry expressed its “strong and utter protest” against Russia’s recognition of the “self-proclaimed republic of Crimea as a part of the Russian Federation.”
Such actions, it said, “do not meet the international obligations of the multilateral and bilateral agreements that guarantee the territorial integrity of Ukraine, inviolability of its borders and non-interference into the internal affairs of our country.
“Ukraine and the entire civilized world will never recognize the independence of the illegitimately declared Crimea and its violent annex of the territory of our country," the statement concluded.
Crimea had been part of Russia since the 18th century until Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it to Ukraine in 1954.
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev this week defended Russia's seizure of Crimea, saying that the referendum corrected a historical "mistake."
“While Crimea had previously been joined to Ukraine based on the Soviet laws, which means (Communist) party laws, without asking the people, now the people themselves have decided to correct that mistake,” Gorbachev said on Monday, Interfax news agency reported.
“This should be celebrated, not sanctioned,” he said.
Christopher J. Miller is an editor at English-language newspaper the Kyiv Post in Ukraine.