AKIPRESS.COM - At least 14 people were killed and scores were wounded as Ukrainian government forces seeking to win back Slavyansk in the country's east from pro-Russia rebels, Tampa Bay Times reported on May 5.

Operations by the Interior Ministry, army and national guard troops for the past two weeks erupted in a massive shootout as their armed convoy rolled into Semyonovka, a suburb of Slavyansk. They were met by the local protesters firing Kalashnikovs, grenade launchers and large-caliber machine guns.

The gunbattle underscored the tough resistance government forces have faced in confronting the rebels – directed, they say, by Moscow – who have seized control in more than a dozen towns and cities in eastern and southern Ukraine in a bid for greater autonomy, independence or annexation to Russia.

Witnesses described the scene outside Slavyansk, one of the centers of the rebellion, as harrowing, especially after a gas station exploded in a wall of flame.

The Interior Ministry said government forces suffered 4 dead and 30 injured. Seven rebels were killed and three were injured, said Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, the self-proclaimed mayor of Slavyansk. In addition, three civilians were killed and 15 were wounded.

“They are using a cunning in-and-out tactic with us, obviously counting that we will soon run out of our manpower, given their blockade of Slavyansk,” Ponomaryov told the Los Angeles Times. “But I must boast that a lot of our friends arrived in Slavyansk this weekend to help us fight the fascist junta,” the pro-Russia mayor added.

Acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page that a special forces unit was dispatched Monday to the southern port city of Odessa to restore order there. At least 46 people died in the Black Sea port Friday during a clash in which firebombs set ablaze the city's trade union building, where the protesters had taken up positions.