‘We are on the brink of disaster’ – Ukraine PM

Agence France-Presse

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A group of 1,000 armed men are blocking the entrance to a unit of Ukraine's border guards in a tense standoff in the south of the flashpoint Crimea peninsula, according to the defence ministry

PROTEST. A demonstrator holds a sign reading "Putin get out of Ukraine" in front of the Russian Embassy in Kiev. Photo by Yury Kirnichny/AFP

KIEV, Ukraine – A group of 1,000 armed men were blocking on Sunday, March 2, the entrance to a unit of Ukraine’s border guards in a tense standoff in the south of the flashpoint Crimea peninsula, the defence ministry said.

“One thousand armed fighters and around 20 trucks are blocking the perimetre of the 36th brigade of border guards… in Perevalne,” the ministry said in a statement.

Tensions remain high after Russia’s parliament approved the deployment of troops in Ukraine. It did not indicate what nationality the armed men were.

Earlier, Ukraine’s Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk warned his crisis-hit country was on the “brink of disaster.” He accused Russia of declaring war in a bleak appeal to the international community.

“This is the red alert. This is not a threat. This is actually a declaration of war to my country,” he told reporters in English, a day after Russia’s parliament approved the deployment of troops to Ukraine.

“If President Putin wants to be the president who started a war between two neighbouring and friendly countries, between Ukraine and Russia, he has reached his target within a few inches. We are on the brink of the disaster,” he added.

US leader Barack Obama has branded Russia’s parliament vote a “violation of Ukrainian sovereignty” and told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in a phone call that Moscow’s reported deployment of troops outside bases that it leases from Ukraine in the Crimea peninsula had broken international law.

Yatsenyuk on Sunday appealed to the international community.

“We believe that our Western partners and the entire global community will support the territorial integrity and unity of Ukraine and will do everything they can in order to stop the military conflict provoked by the Russian Federation,” he said. – Rappler.com

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