Five pro-Russian activists were killed overnight when Ukrainian
forces attacked barricades on the outskirts of Ukraine's southeastern
city of Mariupol, a spokeswoman for the pro-Russian camp said Wednesday.
Fifteen other activists were detained by Ukrainian forces, Irina Voropaeva said.
The violence comes amid
an escalation of tensions as Ukrainian forces seek to regain control of
some of the administrative buildings seized by pro-Russian separatists
in a swath of the country's south and east.
The activists briefly abandoned the Mariupol City Council building, according to Voropaeva.
But the security forces stayed only briefly in the building, saying they had been ordered to leave.
The activists reentered and Russian and regional flags went back up, to the cheers of the crowd outside.
Elsewhere in the volatile
Donetsk region, an uneasy standoff continued Wednesday between the
Ukrainian military and the separatists.
Both sides clashed at the
rebel stronghold of Slovyansk on Monday. Ukraine's security services
said 30 "heavily armed" militants had been killed in recent days as part
of the "anti-terrorist" operation in the area.
As the tensions rise, uncertainty reigns.
The eastern Donetsk and
Luhansk regions say they'll hold a referendum on autonomy on Sunday, but
there are no visible preparations for a vote.
Meanwhile, the interim
government in Kiev plans to hold presidential elections on May 25 -- but
acknowledges it has lost control of part of the country.
Russian Foreign Minister
Sergey Lavrov on Tuesday said it would be "unusual" to hold a
presidential election in the country when the army was being deployed
against the population.
In what could be a sign
of Moscow preparing to question the legitimacy of the May 25 election if
it is unhappy with the process, Lavrov said: "In the situation where
they use the army against their own population, it's quite unusual."
"This is not
Afghanistan; this is a completely different situation," he said, adding
that constitutional reforms promised by Kiev's new leaders would not be
implemented in time for the vote.
Lavrov, speaking after a
meeting of Council of Europe foreign ministers in Austria, also ruled
out holding a second international meeting in a bid to defuse the crisis
in Ukraine, saying that the provisions of a first international pact
signed in Geneva, Switzerland, last month had yet to be put into force.
The agreement called on
all parties to refrain from violence, as well as saying illegal armed
groups must disarm and vacate seized public buildings.
Kiev and many in the
West believe that the separatists are backed by Moscow and fear that
Russian President Vladimir Putin is fomenting trouble to increase his
influence in the region.
Russia annexed Ukraine's
southeastern Crimea region in March, following a referendum staged
while armed pro-Russian groups backed by Russian forces controlled key
infrastructure.
But Moscow says
right-wing, ultranationalist groups are behind the violence in Ukraine
and says it has no direct influence over the pro-Russian groups.
The rising tensions
could have an impact far beyond Ukraine's borders, NATO Secretary
General Anders Fogh Rasmussen warned on Tuesday.
"Today we are facing the gravest crisis to European security since the end of the Cold War," he told reporters.
"But this is not just
about Ukraine. This crisis has serious implications for the security and
stability of the Euro-Atlantic area as a whole."
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