keep away from windows as government
announces 'anti-terrorist' operation.
One Ukrainian state security officer has been killed
and five others wounded in an "anti-terrorist"
operation on Sunday against pro-Russian
separatist militants in a city in the east, the interior
minister said.
On the side of the separatists there had been an
"unidentifiable number" of casualties during the
operation in the town of Slaviansk, the minister,
Arsen Avakov, said on his Facebook page. "There were dead and wounded on both sides,"
Avakov said.
About 1,000 people were giving support to the
separatists, he added. Ukrainian security forces launched an "anti-
terrorist" operation to end the grip of separatists on
an eastern town earlier on Sunday.
The operation came as the White House said that US
vice-president Joe Biden would travel to Kiev on April 22 to show support for the Ukrainian
government, residents in the eastern city of
Slaviansk have been told to stay indoors in
anticipation of clashes between pro-Russian
militants who have seized official buildings and
Ukrainian security forces.
"Pass it on to all civilians: they should leave the
centre of town, nor come out of their apartments,
and not go near the windows," Interfax Ukraine news agency quoted Avakov as saying.
"An anti-terrorist operation has begun in Slaviansk.
It is being directed by the anti-terrorist centre of the
state security service.
Forces from all the security
units of the country have been brought in,"
Interfax news agency quoted the minister, Arsen
Avakov, as saying on his Facebook page.
He also said there was gunfire in the city. Pro-Russian activists carrying automatic weapons
seized government buildings in Slaviansk about
150 km (90 miles) from the Russian border on
Saturday, and set up barricades on the outskirts of
the city.
A Reuters correspondent outside the town's police
headquarters, one of the buildings seized, said two
military helicopters were flying overhead.
About a dozen women, who had been in the
building when it was seized, were evacuated as
soon as Avakov's announcement was made
known.
A group of up to a 100 civilians, many of them
elderly women, stood in front of the building,
chanting messages of solidarity to the protesters
inside, including "Referendum!", a reference to
demands for a local poll to be held to determine a
separate status for the region.
On the building's forecourt, which itself was
barricaded, protesters beat out a defiant tattoo on
shields they were carrying.
Gunmen armed with automatic weapons also took
control of the police headquarters in the nearby city
of Kramatorsk, a witness said.
An
organised military unit of over 20 men wearing
matching military fatigues and carrying automatic
weapon took over the building around 1700 GMT on Saturday after arriving on at least two buses.
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