Russian Militants Seize Ukrainian Cities

The demonstrations began yesterday in the mining town of Donetsk and in security services headquarters in Luhansk, where weapons were seized. Kharkov's regional administrative building was also taken over.

Donetsk People's Republic, a self-proclaimed lawmaker, later declared it would administer a referendum no later than May 11th, on whether the region should join Russia, as stated by ITAR-TASS, Russia's state-controlled news portal.  Acting Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov blamed the nation of igniting a second special operation phase whose goal is to overthrow Kiev's government. The Acting President declared, "Enemies of Ukraine are trying to play out the Crimean scenario, but we will not let this happen".

"It is absolutely clear that there is a realization of anti-Ukrainian, anti-Donetsk, anti-Luhansk and anti-Kharkov plans to destabilize the situation. The plan is (for) foreign troops to cross the border and seize the territory of the country...We will not allow it", claimed Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk.

White House Spokesman Jay Carney stated that the United States has reason to believe that certain eastern Ukraine protestors were paid and not locals. Carney commented, "We're concerned about what we've seen...We're going to continue to monitor developments there to make clear to Russia that there will be costs for further transgressions, violations of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, even as we engage with Russia in an effort to encourage Russia to de-escalate the situation and pursue a diplomatic resolution to the crisis."