Footage shows an unnamed delegate addressing the Donetsk Region People's Council, to declare it a "people's republic"
Pro-Russian protesters
who seized the regional government building in the Ukrainian city of
Donetsk are reported to have declared a "people's republic".
The rebels have called for a referendum on secession from Ukraine by 11 May.Ukrainian security officials are being sent to the eastern cities of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv after pro-Russia groups occupied government buildings.
Interim President Oleksandr Turchynov called the unrest an attempt by Russia to "dismember" Ukraine.
In an address on national TV, he said it was "the second wave" of a Russian operation to destabilise Ukraine, overthrow the government and disrupt planned elections.
Russia recently annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula after a referendum there which Ukraine did not see as valid.
As tensions mounted on Monday, Ukrainian Foreign Minister
Andriy Deshchytsya told Russia's Ekho Moskvy news agency that Kiev would
go to war with Russia if it sent troops into eastern Ukraine.Moscow has thousands of troops massed along its border with Ukraine. It says it has no intention of invading but reserves the right to protect the rights of ethnic Russians.
BBC Moscow correspondent Daniel Sandford says Donetsk - an industrial city with a population of about one million - differs from Crimea in that it has many Ukrainian speakers as well as a Russian-speaking majority.
Opinion polls there have shown considerable support for a united Ukraine, he adds.
Footage posted online showed a Russian speaker telling the Donetsk assembly: "I proclaim the creation of the sovereign state of the People's Republic of Donetsk."
Analysis
But Donetsk is not Crimea.
As an autonomous republic in Ukraine, Crimea had its own parliament that voted for independence and an administration that could organise the referendum. However, the 100 or so men who voted in Donetsk had just broken into the building and have never themselves been elected to anything. Also, while Donetsk is majority Russian-speaking, opinion polls suggest many people there still believe in a united Ukraine.
But that does not make the situation any less dangerous. Already the activists have said that if Kiev does not give into their demands they will ask Russia to send "peacekeepers."
Earlier on Monday, protesters seized state security buildings in Donetsk and Luhansk.
Protesters broke into Donetsk's regional government building and another in Kharkiv - Ukraine's second largest city - on Sunday. Ukrainian authorities say protesters have now left the building in Kharkiv.
Ukrainian news agency Unian says gunmen also tried to storm a Donetsk TV building on Monday but were deterred by police.
At an emergency cabinet meeting, interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk blamed Russia for the seizures.
"The plan is to destabilise the situation, the plan is for foreign troops to cross the border and seize the country's territory, which we will not allow,'' he said, adding that people engaged in the unrest have distinct Russian accents.
He said Russian troops remain within 30km (19 miles) of the frontier. The city of Luhansk is just 25km from the Russian border.
The activists in Donetsk called for Russia to send in "peacekeepers" to protect them from Kiev
The activists occupying the Donetsk government building overwhelmingly backed the declaration
Barricades are also being guarded at Donetsk's Security Service building
Officials said Ukrainian National Security Secretary Andriy Parubiy and Security Service chief Valentyn Nalyvaychenko have been sent to the city.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov has already
arrived in Kharkiv and First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Yarema is on
his way to Donetsk, a spokeswoman said.
She said they had "all the authority necessary to take action against separatism." President Turchynov has cancelled a visit to Lithuania to deal with the unfolding events.
The crisis has heightened nervousness in many other eastern European states, with Czech President Milos Zeman saying Nato should deploy troops in Ukraine if Russia invades.
"If Russia decides to extend its territorial expansion to eastern Ukraine, the fun is over," he told Czech public radio on Sunday.
In another development on Monday, Nato said it was limiting Russian diplomats' access to its headquarters in Brussels.
It comes days after Nato foreign ministers agreed to suspend all practical co-operation with Moscow over its annexation of Crimea.
Crimea death The latest developments come as Ukraine's defence ministry said a Russian soldier had killed a Ukrainian military officer still loyal to Kiev in eastern Crimea late on Sunday.
Another Ukrainian officer present is reported to have been beaten and detained by Russian troops in Sunday's incident in the small town of Novofyodorovka.
The circumstances of the incident are unclear.
Russian news agencies reported that prosecutors had opened a criminal investigation into the death.
Crisis timeline
- 21 Nov 2013: President Viktor Yanukovych abandons an EU deal
- Dec: Pro-EU protesters occupy Kiev city hall and Independence Square
- 20-21 Feb 2014: At least 88 people killed in Kiev clashes
- 22 Feb: Mr Yanukovych flees; parliament removes him and calls election
- 27-28 Feb: Pro-Russian gunmen seize key buildings in Crimea.
- 16 Mar: Crimea voters choose to secede in disputed referendum
- 18 Mar: Russian and Crimean leaders sign deal in Moscow to join the region to Russia
Also on Monday, Russia's consumer protection agency said it had suspended imports from six Ukrainian dairy producers, after finding their products violated regulations.
Last week Kiev temporarily suspended seven Russian food companies from selling products in Ukraine.
Ukraine is facing a tough economic situation after Russia's Gazprom almost doubled the price of gas it supplies to Ukraine.
The country's foreign exchange reserves have fallen to around $15bn (£9bn) from $20.42bn on 1 January, Ukraine's central bank said on Monday. The currency, the hryvnia, has also lost about 30% of its value so far this year.
Eastern Ukraine was the political heartland of Viktor Yanukovych, the pro-Russian president who fled to Russia in February after months of protests.
Russia has branded the new leadership in Kiev illegitimate.
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