Pro-Russia protesters guard a barricade outside a regional police building seized by the armed separatists in Slavyansk in early morning April 13, 2014. Ukraine on Sunday launched an "anti-terrorist operation" in the eastern town of Slavyansk, where pro-Russian gunmen have seized police and security services buildings, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said.
Pro-Russian forces opened fire few minutes ago on Ukrainian soldiers trying to clear a police station in the eastern city of Slavyansk that the armed and camouflage-clad men had seized the day before, officials said.
Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the operation to drive the approximately 20 men from the building was being directed by the antiterrorist division of the state security service and had enlisted forces from across the country's military and police units.
"May God be with them," Mr. Avakov wrote on his Facebook page early Sunday, announcing the operation had begun.
A short time later, he said that the men holed up inside the building had begun firing at the Ukrainian special forces, seeking to drive them out, and urged residents in the center of the eastern Ukrainian city to remain indoors and away from their windows.
Residents reported seeing armored personnel carriers approaching the city and helicopters flying overhead. Russian television station Rossiya 24 reported that tires that had been used as a barricade in front of the building had been set on fire and black smoke could be seen above the city center.
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