Donetsk Airport Closed, 48 People Reported Missing After Odessa Riots While Ukraine Kills 30 Pro-Russian Insurgents

Ukrainian officials on Tuesday closed Donetsk airport, forcing the cancelation of more than 15 domestic and international flights, and authorities reported 48 people missing after a riot on Monday in Odessa left at least 46 dead.

According to a statement published on the website of Donetsk airport, the order to shut it down was given by the State Aviation Administration of Ukraine. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs said Tuesday that 30 pro-Russian insurgents were killed by government operations. Four government troops also died during the fighting that raged in Slovyansk while 20 were injured in that community, Arsen Avakov Ukraine’s interior minister, said on his Facebook page.

Pro-Russian protesters in Slovyansk were deploying large-caliber weapons and mortars in the region while the government troops were fighting nearly 800 insurgents, Avokov said.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Oleksandr Turchynov, Ukraine’s acting president, dismissed the head of Odessa regional administration on Tuesday after a fatal riot began in the region between pro-Russian and pro-Kiev protesters. That conflict ended with a fire in a trade union building. This follows a statement by Prime Minister Arseniy Yantsenyuk blaming the local police force stationed on location for failing to stop the riots.

The violence in Odessa continued Tuesday, while the Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu said that his country's Black Sea fleet should bring submarines and surface warships into service, according to ITAR-TASS.

“New air defense units and marine formations will be formed at the places of deployment of our fleet this year. New submarines, surface warships of new generation will be delivered to the Russian Black Sea Fleet this year, all this will require sufficient attention from us,” Shoigu said according to ITAR-TASS.