Ukraine Crisis

Pro-Russian activists who seized the main administration building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk hold Russian flag and the flag of so called Donetsk Republic yesterday. They proclaimed the creation of a sovereign "people's republic" independent of Kiev rule. Photo:AFP

Pro-Russians proclaim independence for Ukraine's Donetsk
Afp, Donetsk

Ukraine faced a fresh secessionist crisis yesterday when pro-Russians occupying the Donetsk government seat proclaimed independence from Kiev and vowed to hold a referendum on joining Kremlin rule.
The declaration and subsequent appeal for Russian military help should Kiev's new pro-Western leaders resist their independence drive put the nation of 46 million in danger of disintegration and added still more pressure on Western powers to act.
Several heavily Russified eastern regions now want to stage referendums on joining Russia when Ukraine holds snap presidential polls on May 25 that feature two frontrunners who both want to tie the vast country's future to Europe and break its historic dependence on its eastern neighbour.
The political pressure on Kiev's embattled leaders reached boiling point on Sunday when thousands of activists chanting "Russia!" seized administration buildings in Kharkiv and Donetsk as well as the security service headquarters in the eastern region of Lugansk.

'Russia trying to dismember Ukraine'
Afp, Kiev

Ukraine's embattled prime minister yesterday accused Russia of trying to "dismember" his country by plotting seizures of government buildings in eastern regions that are seeking to break away from Kiev.
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk's latest volley against Ukraine's giant neighbour came as his top lieutenants fanned out across the heavily Russified eastern swathes of the country trying to regain a semblance of control.
AFP reporters saw pro-Russian activists leave the Kharkiv government headquarters yesterday morning even while a few hundred of their supporters continued to rally outside.
Yatsenyuk said Russia had helped orchestrate the occupations in order to find an excuse for a full-out invasion that would punish Ukraine for February's ouster of its Moscow-backed president and decision to seek a political and economic alliance with the West.

Germany worried by flare-up in eastern Ukraine
Afp, Berlin

Germany said yesterday it was worried by the actions of pro-Russian demonstrators in eastern Ukraine and called for stability in the region.
German government spokesman Steffen Seibert said Berlin was watching events in the eastern Ukrainian cities Donetsk and Kharkiv closely after irate activists occupied government buildings there Sunday.
Seibert said Berlin was "disappointed" there was no "verifiable" sign of a partial withdrawal of Russian troops from a sensitive border region with Ukraine that President Vladimir Putin announced during a telephone call with German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week.