Protesters demanding more power for Ukraine's regions stormed the government building in Luhansk with baseball bats Tuesday, seizing control of a key site in one of the largest cities in Ukraine's troubled east.
Russia has massed tens of thousands of troops in areas near the Ukrainian border, feeding concerns that Moscow aims to use unrest in the east as a pretext for an invasion.
"The east, though, still remains a trouble spot, with civilians being threatened and attacked. Russian terrorists are refusing to surrender arms," he told reporters. "They simply execute orders from Russian authorities."
The demonstrators who overran the building in Luhansk are seeking — at the very least — a referendum on granting greater authority to Ukraine's regions.
Eastern Ukraine, which has a large Russian-speaking population, was the heartland of support for Viktor Yanukovych, the ousted president who fled to Russia in February.
The government that replaced him in Kiev has resisted those demands so far, fearing they could lead to a breakup of the country or mean that more regions could join Russia, as Crimea did.
http://news.yahoo.com/protesters-sei...151104774.html
