Protesters raise Russian flag over eastern Ukrainian city
.cnn_html_media_utility::before{color:red;content:’>>’;font-size:9px;line-height:12px;padding-right:1px}
.cnnstrylccimg640{margin:0 27px 14px 0}
.captionText{filter:alpha(opacity=100);opacity:1}
.cnn_html_slideshow_media_caption a,.cnn_html_slideshow_media_caption a:visited,.cnn_html_slideshow_media_caption a:link,.captionText a,.captionText a:visited,.captiontext a:link{color:outline:medium none}
.cnnVerticalGalleryPhoto{margin:0 auto;padding-right:68px;width:270px}
]]>
Pro-Russian protesters wave a Russian flag as they storm the regional administration building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on Sunday, April 6. Police were negotiating with the demonstrators, who demanded the release of riot police accused of killing protesters in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, in February. Ukrainian and Western officials have voiced alarm about Russia’s reported military buildup on Ukraine’s eastern border. Moscow has formally annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region, sparking the biggest East-West confrontation since the end of the Cold War.
Pro-Russian protesters clash with police as they try to occupy a regional administration building in Donetsk, Ukraine, on April 6.
Pro-Russian activists hold a rally in front of Ukraine’s regional security service in Lugansk, Ukraine, on April 6.
A young demonstrator with his mouth covered by a Russian flag attends a pro-Russia rally outside the regional government administration building in Donetsk on Saturday, April 5.
A Ukrainian soldier guards a road not far from Prokhody, a village near the Russian border, on April 5.
Ukrainian cadets at the Higher Naval School embrace a friend who has decided to stay in the school during a departure ceremony in Sevastopol, Crimea, on Friday, April 4. Some 120 cadets who refused to take Russian citizenship left the school to return to Ukraine.
Soviet military veterans take part in a flower-laying ceremony at the Soviet-era World War II memorial in the Crimean port of Sevastopol on Thursday, April 3.
Ukrainian soldiers conduct a training session on the Desna military shooting range northeast of Kyiv, Ukraine, on Wednesday, April 2.
Russian soldiers prepare for diving training in front of a Tarantul-III class missile boat Tuesday, April 1, in the Crimean city of Sevastopol.
People pass by barricades near the Dnipro Hotel in Kyiv on April 1.
People walk past a train loaded with Russian tanks Monday, March 31, in the Gvardeyskoe railway station near Simferopol, Crimea.
A Russian solder sits in a tank at the Ostryakovo railway station, not far from Simferopol on March 31.
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev speaks about the economic development of Crimea during a meeting March 31 in Simferopol.
Members of the Ukrainian National Guard take part in military exercises on a shooting range near Kyiv on March 31.
A woman cries Sunday, March 30, during a gathering to honor those who were killed during protests in Kyiv’s Independence Square.
A woman and child walk past a line of police officers during a rally in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on March 30.
Ukrainian soldiers take part in a training exercise at a military base in Donetsk, Ukraine, on Saturday, March 29.
Demonstrators protest Friday, March 28, in Kyiv, displaying police vehicles they seized during earlier clashes with authorities.
Members of the Right Sector group block the Ukrainian parliament building in Kyiv on Thursday, March 27. Activists called for Interior Minister Arsen Avakov to step down after the recent killing of radical nationalist leader Oleksandr Muzychko, who died during a police operation to detain him. Muzychko and the Right Sector are credited with playing a lead role in the protests that toppled Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych.
Ukrainian tanks are transported from their base in Perevalne, Crimea, on Wednesday, March 26. After Russian troops seized most of Ukraine’s bases in Crimea, interim Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov ordered the withdrawal of armed forces from the Black Sea peninsula, citing Russian threats to the lives of military staff and their families.
Ukrainian marines wave as they leave a base in Feodosia, Crimea, on Tuesday, March 25.
Russian sailors stand on the deck of the corvette ship Suzdalets in the bay of Sevastopol on March 25.
Pro-Russian militia members remove a resident as Russian troops assault the Belbek air base, outside Sevastopol, on Saturday, March 22. After its annexation of Crimea, Russian forces have consolidated their control of the region.
Soldiers in unmarked uniforms sit atop an armored personnel carrier at the gate of the Belbek air base on March 22.
A Russian sailor holds the Russian Navy’s St. Andrew’s flag while standing on the bow of the surrendered Ukrainian submarine Zaporozhye on March 22 in Sevastopol.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signs the final decree completing the annexation of Crimea on Friday, March 21, as Upper House Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, left, and State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin watch.
A Ukrainian serviceman leaves a Ukrainian military unit that Russian soldiers took control of in Perevalne on March 21.
Ukrainian border guards run during training at a military camp in Alekseyevka, Ukraine, on March 21.
Russian soldiers patrol the area surrounding a Ukrainian military unit in Perevalne on Thursday, March 20.
Pro-Russian protesters remove the gate to the Ukrainian navy headquarters as Russian troops stand guard in Sevastopol on Wednesday, March 19.
Pro-Russian forces walk inside the Ukrainian navy headquarters in Sevastopol on March 19.
A member of pro-Russian forces takes down a Ukrainian flag at the Ukrainian navy headquarters in Sevastopol on March 19.
Alexander Vitko, chief of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, leaves the Ukrainian navy headquarters in Sevastopol after pro-Russian forces took it over on March 19.
A Russian flag waves as workers install a new sign on a parliament building in Simferopol, Crimea’s capital, on March 19.
Russian military personnel surround a Ukrainian military base in Perevalne on March 19.
Nameplates on the front of the Crimean parliament building get removed Tuesday, March 18, in Simferopol.
From left, Crimean Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov; Vladimir Konstantinov, speaker of the Crimean parliament; Russian President Vladimir Putin; and Alexei Chaly, the new de facto mayor of Sevastopol, join hands in Moscow on March 18 after signing a treaty to make Crimea part of Russia.
Demonstrators hold a Crimean flag at Lenin Square in Simferopol on March 18.
Ukrainian soldiers stand guard at a checkpoint near Strilkove, Ukraine, close to Crimea on Monday, March 17.
Former boxer and Ukrainian politician Vitali Klitschko addresses reporters in Kyiv on March 17.
Ukrainian troops stand guard in front of the Ukrainian Parliament building in Kyiv on March 17.
A Ukrainian man applies for the National Guard at a mobile recruitment center in Kyiv on March 17.
Civilians walk past riot police in Simferopol on March 17.
A Ukrainian soldier stands on top of an armored vehicle at a military camp near the village of Michurino, Ukraine, on March 17.
Policemen stand guard outside the regional state administration building in Donetsk during a rally by pro-Russia activists March 17.
Armed soldiers stand guard outside a Ukrainian military base in Perevalne on March 17.
A man holds a Crimean flag as he stands in front of the Crimean parliament building in Simferopol on March 17.
Crimeans holding Russian flags celebrate in front of the parliament building in Simferopol on Sunday, March 16.
A Ukrainian police officer tries to shield himself from a road block thrown by pro-Russia supporters in Kharkiv on March 16.
Pro-Russia demonstrators storm the prosecutor general’s office during a rally in Donetsk on March 16.
A woman leaves a voting booth in Sevastopol on March 16. See the crisis in Ukraine before Crimea voted
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
(CNN) — Demonstrators stormed a provincial administration building in eastern Ukraine on Sunday and raised the Russian flag atop it, demanding the release of riot police accused of killing protesters in Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, in February.
Police were negotiating with the demonstrators, who have called for supporters to rally around the Regional Security Administration building in Donetsk, about 200 kilometers (120 miles) from the Russian border. Video of the negotiations was being streamed live online by local news outlets.
The protest is the latest challenge to Ukraine’s embattled new government, which took power after a revolt that toppled pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February. There was no immediate response to the seizure from top officials in Kyiv, where the jailed police are accused of killing protesters during the uprising against Yanukovych.
Russian flag raised over Ukrainian city
The separatists inside the building used a loudspeaker to call for formation of a “people’s city council” for Donetsk.
A similar demonstration took place in Lugansk, according to Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform. Protesters stormed a Security Service office there, demanding the release of a leader.
“The Russians are trying to destabilize the situation in the country,” Ukraine Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a post on his Facebook page Sunday. “Putin and Yanukovich have ordered and paid for another round of separatist disturbances in the East of the country, Lugansk, Donetsk, Kharkov.”
The pro-Russian “paid provocateurs” were trying to “bring blood and victims,” but Ukrainian police have been ordered to “take the situation under control without spilling blood,” Avakov said.
“The police will not shoot people due to a bunch of paid provocateurs,” the interior minister said. “There are people who were deceived and who were paid among the protestors.”
The protests led Ukraine’s acting President Oleksandr Turchinov to cancel a trip to Lithuania Sunday, his spokesman said. Turchinov, who also serves as parliament speaker, was scheduled to travel there to meet with speakers from European Union states.
Turchinov will instead meet with law enforcement chiefs and take “personal control” of the response to the protests, the spokesman said.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk announced on live television Sunday evening that he would travel to his country’s eastern regions “to dismiss their fears.”
Yatsenyuk said he would offer to decentralize power and state financial support for local businesses.
In mid-March, Ukraine’s new government warned that pro-Russian forces in other regions might attempt to follow the model used to wrest the Crimea region from Ukraine.
Yatsenyuk said demonstrations by what he called “political tourists” with foreign passports were already under way; Andrii Parubii, the secretary of the Ukrainian parliament’s National Security and Defense Council, said protesters included “elite special units that are trying to arrive to Ukraine with weapons.”
The Donetsk protest comes more than a month after pro-Russian forces seized government headquarters in Ukraine’s semi-autonomous, Russian-majority Crimea region. A new administration was quickly put in place, backed by Russian troops and local militias. A hastily called referendum on independence, condemned as unconstitutional by Ukraine’s government and the West, led to the territory’s swift annexation by Moscow, a process completed by March 20.
CNN’s Claudia Dominguez contributed to this report.