Separatist Uprising Spreads In Eastern Ukraine

By RFE/RL

April 12, 2014

Acting Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov says attacks by pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine are an "act of aggression" by Russia. 

Avakov said in a statement on his Facebook page that units of the Ukrainian Interior and Defense ministries "are implementing an operational response plan" to attacks by protesters on police stations and other government buildings in several cities and towns.

It began early when gunmen seized a police station in the city of Slovyansk.

Pro-Russia protesters later took control of other government buildings in the city.

Separatists then stormed or took control of several other government buildings in Donetsk city, Krasny Lyman, and Kramatorsk.

Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov has called an emergency meeting of the National Security Council to discuss the situation in eastern Ukraine.

In Donetsk, the regional police chief has resigned amid pro-Russian protests in the regional capital, Donetsk.

Kostyantyn Pozhydayev announced his resignation on April 12, saying he was forced to step down by pro-Russian activists.

Some 1,000 protesters surrounded the regional police headquarters in Donetsk on April 12 before storming it.

Reports say armed men now occupy the building.

Also on April 12, Turchynov sacked the chief of the Security Service in the eastern Donetsk region, Valeriy Ivanov.

Ukraine Warning

Meanwhile, acting Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsya has urged Moscow to stop "provocative actions by Russian special agents in Ukraine's eastern regions."

Talking to his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov via telephone on April 12, Deshchytsya said that the ongoing actions of Russian agents in eastern regions aim at disrupting the Geneva meeting on stabilization of the situation in Ukraine.

Lavrov later said he rejected all accusations of Russian agents or military troops being in eastern Ukraine and called on Kyiv to stop blaming Moscow for its problems.

Deshchytsya also confirmed his participation in the U.S.-EU-Russia-Ukraine talks in Geneva scheduled for April 17.

But a Russian Foreign Ministry official said there were still many details about the meeting to resolve, including the agenda, before Russia would take part in it.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry also issued a statement early on April 12 warning public and political organizations to "stop bringing militants onto the streets, stop calling for violence and aggression, stop provoking clashes."

The ministry said people involved in organizing mass disturbances will face jail sentences of between five and eight years.

Separatist protesters first stormed government buildings in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Kharkiv, Donetsk, and Luhansk on April 6.

Only the protesters in Kharkiv have been removed from the regional government building they had occupied.