Slavyansk mayor asks Russia to send peacekeepers in wake of deadly night attack.

Slavyansk mayor asks Russia to send peacekeepers in wake of deadly night attack.(VOR).[GoogleTranslate].

Head of the self-defense units of Ukraine's eastern town of Slavyansk, Vladimir Ponomaryov, who was appointed Slavyansk mayor by the town's residents, has asked Russia to send peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine to protect civilians from National Guard and Right Sector militants.

Three residents Sloviansk, including a school bus driver and another citizen, were killed and two injured 

"They kill our people. They don't talk to us but just kill," Ponomaryov said at an emergency press conference in the wake of last night's armed clashes on the outskirts of Slavyansk. "The town has actually been besieged by the Right Sector," he said. Only Russia can protect civilians from the Right Sector, Ponomaryov said, that's why he decided to ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to send peacekeepers to the eastern Donetsk and Lugansk regions, the RIA Novosti news agency reports.

Moscow is outraged by the armed incident that occurred Saturday night in Slavyansk in which innocent civilians died as a result of an attack by Right Sector militants, the Russian Foreign Ministry says. "The Russian side is enraged by the militant provocation which is an indication of the reluctance of the authorities in Kiev to bridle and disarm nationalists and extremists," a ministry statement says.

"It is surprising that the tragedy occurred after the signing on April 17 in Geneva of the final statement of the four-sided meeting of representatives of Russia, the USA, EU and Ukraine which calls for refraining from any violent actions, intimidation or provocations. The Russian side insists on the strict fulfillment by the Ukrainian side of its commitments concerning the de-escalation the situation in southeast Ukraine," the ministry says, Interfax reports.

"The Eastern ceasefire was violated in Slavyansk on April 20. As a result of an armed attack by the so-called Right Sector innocent civilians died. Local residents seized the vehicles of the attackers in which they discovered arms, aerial maps of the area and Right Sector paraphernalia," the statement says.