A Ukrainian state security officer is dead and five others have been wounded in "anti-terrorist" operations in the eastern city of Slaviansk on Sunday, after forces were sent to confront pro-Russian militants who seized government buildings in the city yesterday.
On the side of the separatists there had been an "unidentifiable number" of casualties during the operation in the town, the Ukrainian interior minister, Arsen Avakov, said on his Facebook page. Russian news agency RIA, however, reported that one pro-Russian activist was killed in the clashes, citing a local militant.
"On our side, another two were injured," RIA quoted pro-Russian militant Nikolai Solntsev as saying.
Pro-Russian militants told The Associated Press that the gunfight had not occurred at any of the buildings seized on Saturday.
An Associated Press reporter found a bullet-ridden SUV on the side of the road on the outskirts of Slaviansk and a pool of blood on the passenger seat where the gun battle was supposed to have taken place.
Vladimir Kolodchenko, a lawmaker from the area who witnessed the attack, said a car with four gunmen pulled up on the road in a wooded area outside Slaviansk and open fire on Ukrainian soldiers who were standing beside their vehicles.
Both attackers and the Ukrainian servicemen left soon after the shooting.
Shortly after the reports of the deaths and injuries surfaced, separatist protesters seized control of the mayor's office in the town of Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, on the Azov Sea, local media in the area said.
The protesters entered the building following a rally involving about 1,000 people demonstrating in favour of the creation of a separate republic in eastern Ukraine, a local journalist for the newspaper Priazovsky Worker said.
Police did not try to stop them. They entered the offices, took down the Ukrainian flag and were erecting barricades outside the building, the journalist said.
'Act of aggression'
The government in Kyiv called the seizures "an act of aggression" by Russia on Saturday, and sent special forces to drive out the Russian separatists who had taken control of a police station and state security headquarters.
Earlier on Sunday, Avakov asked residents of Slaviansk to stay inside as the operations were carried out.
The operation to dislodge the armed militants risks tipping the stand-off into a new, dangerous phase because Moscow has warned it will act to protect eastern Ukraine's Russian-speakers if they come under attack.
Over the past week, several government buildings in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk have been occupied by armed, Pro-Russian protesters. A deadline to surrender the buildings, set by Kyiv earlier this week, has expired without action from Ukrainian authorities. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)
In a phone call with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry "expressed strong concern" that the attacks "were orchestrated and synchronized, similar to previous attacks in eastern Ukraine and Crimea," according the State Department.
Kerry "made clear that if Russia didn't take steps to de-escalate in eastern Ukraine and move its troops back from Ukraine's border, there would be additional consequences," the department said.
The Russian Foreign Ministry denied Kerry's claims, while Lavrov blamed the crisis in Ukraine on the failure of the Ukrainian government "to take into account the legitimate needs and interests of the Russian and Russian-speaking population," the ministry said.
Lavrov also warned that Russia may pull out of next week's Ukraine summit if Kyiv uses force against "residents of the southeast who were driven to despair."
A Reuters reporter in the city, about 150 kilometres from the border with Russia, said two military helicopters were flying over the town's police headquarters where militants were holed up.
"Pass this on to all civilians: they should leave the centre of town, not come out of their apartments, and not go near the windows," Avakov wrote on his Facebook page.
In the nearby town of Kramatorsk, militants exchanged gunfire with police late on Saturday, though there was no confirmation any one had been hurt.
Novosti Donbass, a local Internet news site, said that government forces had taken down two rebel barricades at entry points into Slaviansk, but there was no independent confirmation of this.
Residents in the town did not appear to have heeded the appeal by Avakov and families were out on the streets on their normal Sunday business.
Relations between Russia and the West are at their most fraught since the end of the Cold War, the result of a row over Ukraine that began when the Moscow-backed president was pushed out, and Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.
Pro-Russian gunmen seized control of a regional administration building in Donetsk on Saturday. (Max Vetrov/The Associated Press)
In Washington, the White House expressed concern that the seizures of public buildings in eastern Ukraine could be a prelude to a Russian military incursion, though Moscow has strenuously denied any such intention.
"We call on President Putin and his government to cease all efforts to destabilize Ukraine, and we caution against further military intervention," said Laura Lucas Magnuson, spokeswoman for the White House National Security Council.
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Kyiv on April 22, becoming the most senior U.S. official to visit the country since the crisis began there.
A repeat of Crimea?
Moscow justified sending its military into Crimea, on Ukraine's southern tip, by saying the Russian population there was under threat, and some in Western governments believe the Kremlin is preparing a similar scenario for eastern Ukraine.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has denied any such intentions and said instead it was Ukraine's Western-leaning government, viewed by the Kremlin as illegitimate, that was stoking the tensions.
Pro-Russian protesters helped armed, masked militants build barricades of tires in anticipation of possible police action against the seized locations. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters)
Any use of force against Russian speakers "would undermine the potential for cooperation" between Moscow and Western powers over Ukraine, Lavrov said in a statement after a telephone call with his U.S. opposite number John Kerry.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon said in a statement he was deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in eastern Ukraine and "the growing potential for violent clashes".
Kyiv's shaky control
The crisis over Ukraine could trigger a "gas war", disrupting supplies of Russian natural gas to customers across Europe. Moscow has said it may be forced to sever deliveries to Ukraine — the transit route for much of Europe's gas — unless Kyiv settles its debts.
For now though the focus of the crisis was in eastern Ukraine, the country's industrial heartland where many people feel a close affinity with neighbouring Russia.
NATO says Russian armed forces are massing on Ukraine's eastern border, while Moscow says they are on normal manoeuvres.
On Saturday, in what had the look of a coordinated action, pro-Russian militants, some of them armed, seized public buildings in several towns, challenging Kyiv's already shaky control over the region.
In Kramatorsk, about 15 kilometres south of Slaviansk, gunmen seized the police headquarters after a shootout with police, a Reuters witness said.
Novosti Donbass, a local Internet news site, said armed men had also thrown up barricades at a military airport there while others continued to occupy the town council building as well as the police headquarters.
The attackers were a well-organized unit of over 20 men, wearing matching military fatigues and carrying automatic weapons, who had arrived by bus. Video footage showed the men taking orders from a commander. Their identity was unclear.
'We want to join Russia'
Their level of discipline and equipment was in contrast to the groups who have occupied buildings so far in Ukraine. They have been mostly civilians formed into informal militias with mismatched uniforms.
Ukrainian police appeared powerless to intervene, and it was not clear if local security forces were still taking orders from Kyiv. The police chief for the Donetsk region, which includes Slaviansk, resigned after pro-Russian protesters picketed his headquarters.
In Slaviansk, militants blocking the road leading into the city from the north set fire to tires and trees, hoping the smoke would hamper any operation by government forces.
By the side of one road leading into the city, a group of women were praying with a priest. Not far away, a group of about 12 armed men in combat fatigues, helmets and balaclavas and carrying automatic weapons appeared to be monitoring people on the road.
"We want to join Russia. We would be very grateful if Russia helps us," said a gunman in the centre of Slaviansk who gave his name as Alexander, wearing camouflage fatigues and a black balaclava mask. "We will stand until victory. Honestly, it's not scary for me to die for freedom."
Ukrainian commentator Sergei Leshchenko said the burst of activity by pro-Russian groups was an attempt by the Kremlin to secure a strong negotiating position before international talks about Ukraine.
Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, the U.S. and the EU are due to meet in Geneva on Thursday for the talks.
Russia is expected to argue for a revamp of Ukraine's constitution to give a large degree of autonomy to eastern Ukraine, something Kyiv and its Western backers reject.
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