Ukraine crisis: Pro-Russians seize state buildings

Unrest comes with Ukraine’s borders surrounded by Russian troops who had earlier seized Crimea.

DONETSK: Activists chanting “Russia!” broke through police lines Sunday and stormed several government buildings in eastern Ukrainian regions seeking independence from Kiev following last month’s fall of a Kremlin regime. Clashes in Donetsk and similar rallies in the heavily Russified cities such of Lugansk and Kharkiv provided another reminder to the untested pro-Western leaders in Kiev of the monumental task facing them after their February 22 overthrow of president Viktor Yanukovych. The unrest comes with Ukraine’s borders surrounded by Russian troops who had earlier seized the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea and the economy in tatters after decades of mismanagement and government theft. Several eastern regions now want to stage referendums on joining Kremlin rule when Ukraine holds snap presidential polls on May 25.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 7^th, 2014.