Police department under seige of armed men

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Saturday (12th of April 2014) that some armed men have taken over a police department in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slaviansk. This is the latest public building to be seized in the east, as Pro-Russian protesters stand off against Kiev.

"Armed men in camouflage uniforms seized the police department in Slaviansk. The response will be very tough because there is a difference between protesters and terrorists", Avakov wrote on his page on Facebook.

A local police spokesman told Reuters the men had not claimed any demands, but they even refused to reveal on their identity. Slaviansk is in Ukraine's Donetsk region, about 150 km from the border with Russia.

In eastern Ukraine, government buildings in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk have been occupied by pro-Russian protesters who want their regions to split from Kiev.

There was a deadline set by the Kiev authorities for the protesters to end their occupation, which expired, yesterday (Friday). It seems the Ukraine police didn't interfere, yet, to force them out.

"I will say it again: those who want dialogue... will have dialogue and the search for solutions. Those who are up in arms, set fire to buildings, shoot at people, police, terrorize with bats and masks, these people will face an appropriate response", Avakov said in his Facebook post.

This current take over in Slaviansk comes a day after Ukraine’s Prime Minister visited the country’s south eastern region, where he pledged to give areas more power to defend the rights of Russian speakers.