International Red Cross appeals for blood and medical supplies as Kiev government pummels Russian rebels

The International Committee for the Red Cross is calling for blood and other medical supplies as the death toll rises between the Ukrainian military and Russian-backed rebels. The death toll could reach 100, with all but a handful rebels.
A few civilians were reported killed as the Donetsk airport was retaken by government security forces.
"There is an urgent need for medicines and wound-dressing materials, as the number of casualties is increasing," Vera Radovic, head of the ICRC office in Donetsk said in an email Wednesday.
"Medical supplies have already been delivered to four civilian hospitals in Mariupol and two hospitals in Donetsk, and will soon reach near Kramatorsk,” she said.
US President Barack Obama virtually gave the Ukraine the nod of approval by saying war was not the only answer or even the main answer to world problems. But he told West Point graduates the nation was not retreating from the world stage either. Obama has been criticized for pulling all but 10,000 soldiers from Afghanistan.
Obama will meet new Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, next week during a European trip. Poroshenko, asking Washington and NATO for weapons, has done what the acting Kiev government was hesitant to do. Three days after winning election he sent warplanes and helicopters in to crush “the little green men.”
The new Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, has done what the acting Kiev government was hesitant to do: send warplanes and helicopters in to crush “the little green men.”
Vice News said the rebels had gotten the backing of Chechnyan fighters who crossed the border into Ukraine. Some fighters admitted to Vice News that they had volunteered to come and fight from Chechnya. The New York Times confirmed the presence of Chechnya "volunteers." But they were no match for jets and helicopters.
Obama said, ""In Ukraine, Russia's recent actions recall the days when Soviet tanks rolled into Eastern Europe."
Russian TV, the mouthpiece for Russian President Vladimir Putin, said “bodies are piling up in Donetsk morgues after Kiev unleashed fighter jets and and artillery on the country’s southeast just hours after the presidential election.”
Poroshenko, the oligarch known as the “chocolate king,” won a first-round victory in the voting last Sunday. Although he doesn’t take office until June, Poroshenko said an offensive to drive out the rebels would not wait.
Interfax Ukraine said no talks are possible yet.
"The government's position concerning talks with the Russian Federation remains unchanged as well: in present-day conditions, bilateral negotiations are not considered possible without the presence of the U.S. and the European Union," he said Tuesday.

The Guardian said the rebels still held some government buildings in Donetsk. The government planned to use “special high-precision weapons” against these facilities if the rebels did not withdraw or surrender.
Donetsk, with a population of 1 million, is the second-biggest city in eastern Ukraine.
Poroshenko was committed to not allowing the rebel occupation of portions of the east, near the Russian border, become a fait accompli as had occurred when Putin sent troops in to occupy Crimea. The offensive would be over “in a matter of hours,” not weeks.

Sources:
Russian TV
Interfax Ukraine
Guardian