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| In response to the attack Russia started new military drills near the Ukrainian border, where it has amassed a formidable array of troops and armour. |
The world may look back at this as the moment the war began between Ukraine and Russia.
There was no formal declaration of war, but heavily armed Ukrainian special forces commandos launched a dramatic assault on illegal checkpoints in the separatist-controlled town of Slovyansk and killed 'up to five' militants - with Russian president Vladimir Putin firing an ominous warning back and ordering new military drills.
The attack, which saw well-drilled commandos backed up by armoured personnel carriers and helicopters swiftly overwhelm pro-Russian gunmen, was described by Putin as 'a crime' that would have 'consequences' for Kiev.
A Ukrainian ministry statement said that an 'anti-terrorist operation' by its forces, supported by the army, removed three illegal checkpoints manned by armed groups in the northeastern part of Slovyansk.
'During the armed clash up to five terrorists were eliminated,' it said. One person had been wounded on the side of government forces, it added.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking on Russian TV, said that if Kiev authorities have used the army in East Ukraine it is a very serious crime against its own people.
He added: 'If these people have advanced to the so called "acute phase" (of confrontation with protesters), this is not an acute phase, it is just a punitive operation and it will of course incur consequences for the people making these decisions, including (an effect) on our interstate relations.'
Ukraine's acting president Oleksander Turchinov called on Russia to pull troops back from their border, stop interfering in Ukraine's internal affairs and end its 'permanent threats and blackmail'.
Armoured vehicles and a helicopter were used in the assault, with several personnel carriers driving past an abandoned rebel roadblock in flames to take up position at the entry to the town.
Reuters journalists saw a Ukrainian detachment with five armoured personnel carriers take over a checkpoint on a road north of the city in late morning after it was abandoned by separatists who set tyres alight to cover their retreat.
The soldiers appeared disciplined and well-armed, wearing camouflage with black body armour and black helmets with riot visors, the news agency said.
However, two hours later the troops pulled back. Local militia moved in and began reinforcing the position with sandbags. It was unclear why the military had withdrawn.
The fighting was the first since acting President Oleksandr Turchynov on Tuesday ordered the resumption of military operations in east Ukraine.
A war studies academic told MailOnline that Russia's new military drills are designed to send a clear message to Kiev that if it continues to dislodge pro-Russian separatists from barricades with armed assaults, that it will intervene.
The source, who did not want to be named, said that if Ukraine continued with the use of force then 'the chances of Russia intervening militarily is very high'.
Earlier Barack Obama warned Russia that new economic sanctions are 'teed up' as U.S troops arrived in Poland to reassure Nato's eastern European members in the face of the Russian troop build-up on Ukraine's border.
Obama's threat came after he accused Moscow of failing to live up to an agreement last week to ease tensions in eastern Ukraine.
But he cautioned that the United States needs to secure the support of allies to ensure that additional economic pressure is even applied.
He conceded that new sanctions may not change President Putin's geopolitical calculations.
‘There are some things the United States can do alone but ultimately it's going to have to be a joint effort, a collective effort,’ Obama said during a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Obama's comments underscored the difficulties he faces in devising a response to Russia's aggressive moves on Ukraine's eastern border and the growing unrest in the country driven by pro-Russian insurgents.
He did not put a timeline on when sanctions could be applied, saying only it was a matter of days, not weeks.
Obama complained that militias and armed men continue to take over government buildings in Ukraine in defiance of Ukrainian authorities.
Pro-Russian insurgents have been especially active in eastern Ukraine in the aftermath of Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula. Under an agreement struck last week in Geneva, Russia had agreed to take steps to defuse the tensions and the gunmen occupying about a dozen public buildings are supposed to disarm and go home.
‘So far we have seen them not abide by the spirit or the letter of the agreement in Geneva,’ Obama said. If that continues, he said, ‘there will be further consequences and we will ramp up further sanctions.’
By acknowledging that he still needed cooperation from allies to impose new sanctions, Obama laid bare one of the key obstacles to presenting a united front against Russia.
Many European countries rely on Russian energy and fear that increased pressure on Moscow could hurt their own economies.
‘It's important to emphasize that throughout this process our goal has been to change Mr. Putin's calculus, that our preference is to resolve this diplomatically, that sanctions hurt Russia more than anybody else but they are disruptive to the global economy,’ Obama said.
Putin said on Thursday that sanctions were hurting the Russian economy but that the damage was not critical.
‘Overall they are causing (damage), because (credit) ratings are being reviewed, loans could become more expensive and so forth. But this is of no critical character,’ Putin said of sanctions imposed over Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Putin also condemned the use of sanctions as an instrument of interstate policy on Thursday, saying they damage all concerned and reflect badly on those who impose them.
‘Overall they are harmful for everyone, they destroy the global economy (and) are dishonourable on the part of those who use those types of tools,’ Putin said.
During the same talk he also denounced the internet as 'a CIA project' and made comments about Russia's biggest search engine Yandex, sending the company's shares plummeting.
The Kremlin has been anxious to exert greater control over the Internet, which opposition activists - barred from national television - have used to promote their ideas and organize protests.
Russia's parliament this week passed a law requiring social media websites to keep their servers in Russia and save all information about their users for at least half a year. Also, businessmen close to Putin now control Russia's leading social media network, VKontakte.
Putin said that the Internet originally was a 'CIA project' and 'is still developing as such'.
To resist that influence, Putin said, Russia needs to 'fight for its interests' online.
Tensions between Russia and the West increased further on Wednesday when two Russian bombers flew half a mile inside Holland’s airspace.
The Dutch scrambled F-16s to intercept the TU-95 Bears after they encroached into their airspace over the North Sea.
The jets, from Volkel air force base, escorted the bombers back into international air space.
Jets from Britain and Denmark were also scrambled when radar detected the bombers approaching.
The Royal Air Force sent up Typhoon fighters stationed at Leuchars air base in Scotland, but the MoD refused to specify how many.
An MoD spokesman said: 'Typhoon quick reaction alert aircraft were launched from RAF Leuchars to determine the identity of unknown aircraft that approached the Nato air policing area north of Scotland and could not be identified by other means.
'The aircraft were subsequently identified as Russian military aircraft. The Russian military aircraft remained in international airspace at all times as they are perfectly entitled to do so.'
Major Wilko Ter Horst, from the Dutch air force, said: ‘That's why we scrambled, that's why the Danish scrambled and the English scrambled, to ensure they fly out of our airspace.'
Anders Fridberg, spokesman for the Danish Defense Command, said the Russian planes came in from the north.
‘We just followed them and just turned back when we reached Germany,’ he said.
The Dutch ministry statement said such incidents have occurred before, citing one from March 21 and another from September 10 last year.
It has also been revealed that one of the Royal Navy’s state-of-the-art destroyers has been shadowing a ship from the Russian Navy as it travels south past Britain.
HMS Dragon, a Type 45 destroyer, began monitoring the Vice Admiral Kulakov as it approached waters north of Scotland.
The Ministry of Defence said HMS Dragon’s deployment was a ‘standard’ procedure.
U.S troops, meanwhile, have arrived in Poland to take part in joint military exercises, a move by Washington to reassure eastern European allies worried about Russia's build-up of troops on Ukraine's border.
One hundred and fifty soldiers from the 173rd Airborne Brigade touched down in Swidwin from their base in Vicenza, Italy, with 450 more due in a matter of days.
They will also take part in military exercises in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The troops arrived as the Russian foreign minister warned that attacks on Russian citizens or interests in Ukraine would bring a firm response. Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov compared the circumstances to those that triggered the war with Georgia in 2008.
In Russia, Lavrov on Wednesday declared that attacks on Russian citizens are attacks against the Russian federation. His comments came day after Ukraine announced it was re-launching a campaign against pro-Russia insurgents occupying government facilities in the mostly Russian-speaking east.
MARK 13:7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet.
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.
JOEL 3:12 Let the heathen be wakened, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge all the heathen round about.
13 Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great.
14 Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision: for the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.
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