Ukraine crisis: Ukraine in bid to retake buildings

The Ukraine authorities say they have seized back control of the regional administration building in the eastern city of Kharkiv from pro-Russia separatists. They say they hope buildings in Luhansk and Donetsk will be freed shortly as well. On Monday, pro-Russia demonstrators seized government buildings in the three cities. Russia recently annexed the peninsula of Crimea following a referendum. Kiev and the West say the referendum in the territory, where the majority of people are Russian speakers, was illegal. Moscow has thousands of troops massed along its border with eastern Ukraine. Although it insists it has no intention of invading Ukraine, it says it reserves the right to defend ethnic Russians in the country. nterim President Oleksandr Turchynov says several Ukrainian policemen have been injured in the operation to free the Kharkiv regional state administration. Some 70 people were held without shots being fired, Ukraine's interior ministry said in a statement. Mr Turchynov said those who seized the buildings would be treated as "terrorists and criminals" who would be prosecuted with the full force of the law. Rebels occupying Donetsk's regional government building on Monday declared a "people's republic" and called for a referendum on secession from Ukraine to be held by 11 May. There have been talks overnight in Donetsk between the authorities and pro-Russian activists who had occupied the regional administration building. On Tuesday, Russia warned Ukraine to stop any military preparations, with the Russian foreign ministry saying in a statement that such preparations risked causing a civil war. Russia is refusing to recognise the new authorities in Kiev who took power after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych was ousted in February.