Ukraine says it retakes building seized by protesters
April 7, 2014 -- Updated 2020 GMT (0420 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- NEW: Government troops retake Donetsk headquarters, presidency reports
- "Enemies of Ukraine are trying to play out the Crimean scenario," Ukraine leader says
- Quit blaming us and listen to your people, Moscow tells Kiev
- Separatist "Army of the Southeast" calls for support in Luhansk
(CNN) -- Ukrainian special forces moved against pro-Russian demonstrators occupying a government building in the eastern city of Donetsk late Monday after the country's acting President vowed to resist efforts to "dismember" his country, his office reported.
The troops cleared armed protesters from the headquarters of Ukrainian security services in Donetsk, one of three cities where pro-Moscow uprisings took place over the weekend, acting President Oleksandr Turchynov's office announced Monday night.
The report came several hours after Turchynov blamed "separatist groups coordinated by Russian special services" for the revolts, which he said echoed events leading to the Russian annexation of Crimea three weeks ago.
"Enemies of Ukraine are trying to play out the Crimean scenario, but we will not let this happen," Turchynov said in a televised message.
Pro-Moscow protesters seized government buildings, raised Russian flags and declared new governments in the cities of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkov on Sunday. Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the goal of the protesters is "to destabilize" the country, allowing "foreign troops to cross the border and seize the territory of the country."
"We will not allow it," Yatsenyuk said.
Russia, which has an estimated tens of thousands of troops near the Ukrainian border, said it was "watching closely" and told Ukraine to quit blaming it for Ukrainian problems. President Vladimir Putin's government pushed Ukraine to set up a federal system in which regions with ethnic Russian majorities would have more autonomy, and its foreign ministry urged Ukraine to enter into talks over the issue.
"Ukrainian people want to get a clear answer from Kiev to all their questions. It's time to listen to these legal claims," a Foreign Ministry statement read. The Ukrainian government was acting "irresponsibly," it said.
But in Washington, U.S. officials urged Russian President Vladimir Putin's government to disavow the protests and warned further Russian intervention in Ukraine would bring stiffer economic sanctions than those already imposed over the Crimean annexation.
"If Russia moves into eastern Ukraine, either overtly or covertly, this would be a very serious escalation," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters. "We call on President Putin and his government to cease all efforts to destabilize Ukraine. And we caution against further military intervention."
'There is a script,' Ukrainian PM says
Demonstrators took over a regional administrative building in the mining city of Donetsk on Sunday. Russia's state-run ITAR-Tass news agency reported that a self-proclaimed legislature, representing what it called the Donetsk People's Republic, had called a May 11 referendum on whether the area should join Russia.
The Russian news agency also said the Donetsk group asked Putin to send a "temporary peacekeeping contingent." The report could not immediately be independently verified.
In Luhansk, police said demonstrators had taken over the offices of the security services and seized weapons. In a video shot inside the building, a group of armed, uniformed men declared themselves the "Army of the Southeast" and called on the population to turn out in support of "our rights and values."
"Within the last 24 hours, our army has increased many times," a spokesman for the group said in the video, which was posted on YouTube. "We are ready to send a reserve unit to Donetsk if needed. But without the total people's support, we will not be able to change anything."
Protesters also seized the regional administrative building in Kharkov. But Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, in the city, said on his Facebook page Monday that the building had been cleared and that public employees had returned to work.
Donetsk is the hometown of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, whose pro-Russian government was toppled in a popular revolt in February. Russia has called his removal a coup and dispatched thousands of troops to Crimea in support of a pro-Russian movement that seized power in that semi-autonomous Black Sea peninsula shortly after Yanukovych fled to Russia.
That new Crimean administration held a referendum on independence that passed overwhelmingly, despite being condemned as unconstitutional by the new Ukrainian government and by Western powers. Within days, the territory was annexed by Russia.
In mid-March, Yatsenyuk warned that demonstrations by what he called "political tourists" with foreign passports were under way in the east and warned that Russia might attempt to follow the model used to wrest Crimea from Ukraine.
"There is a script written in the Russian Federation, the purpose of which is only one: the dismemberment and destruction of Ukraine," he said Monday. "This cannot be," he added.
He said that Russian troops who had been massed near the border -- for military exercises, according to Moscow -- had not pulled back. Some of them were within 30 kilometers (about 19 miles) of the Ukrainian border, Yatsenyuk said.
In a televised address late Sunday, he announced he would travel to his country's eastern regions "to dismiss their fears." He also said he would offer to decentralize power and give state financial support to local businesses.
Ukrainian naval officer killed in Crimea
Russia based its intervention in Crimea on allegations that the territory's Russian-speaking majority was being mistreated. Carney said the claim "bore no resemblance to the actual truth at the time."
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials are still evacuating military installations in the territory, and Kiev's defense ministry reported that a Ukrainian naval officer was shot and killed by a Russian soldier on Sunday as the officer prepared to leave.
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, said the EU was monitoring the situation in eastern Ukraine closely with concern.
"We reiterate our call for de-escalation and the avoidance of further destabilization of Ukraine," she said.
U.S. officials have said Russia had about 40,000 troops near the Ukrainian border. Putin told German Chancellor Angela Merkel last week that he'd ordered a withdrawal of some Russian troops from his country's border area with Ukraine, Merkel's office said.
But NATO later said it saw no sign that Russia was pulling its forces back from the border. And a small number of additional Russian troops are believed to have moved toward Russia's border with Ukraine, essentially negating any previous withdrawal, two U.S. officials told CNN on Monday.
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