Rebels take two Ukrainian military bases

LUHANSK, Ukraine, June 4 (UPI) -- Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine's Luhansk region forced the surrender of two military bases after heavy fighting -- a border guard base and a National Guard base.

The Ukrainian border service announced personnel at its border base had been "redeployed to safer places" after sustained attacks.

The National Guard base sustained heavy fire, including assaults by rocket-propelled grenades and machine gun fire, after a demand to surrender was rejected, the National Guard said. Three National Guard soldiers were injured, and all the vehicles on the base were destroyed, as well as the base headquarters.

A spokesman for the separatists spoke with Russia's RIA-Novosti news agency and downplayed the intensity of the fighting, saying the soldiers were allowed to leave the base and return home. Another Russian news website quoted a rebel commander saying there was "no battle as such," and the soldiers simply surrendered.

Investigations continue into an incident Monday in which a rebel-held administrative building in the city of Luhansk was targeted, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe said, by aircraft rocket fire. Rebels accuse the Ukrainian Air Force of killing eight civilians in the attack, but Ukrainian authorities denied the involvement of the air force and suggested the rebels themselves initiated the damage.