Ukraine withdrew its coast guard vessels from two ports in Crimea and moved them to other Black Sea bases on Sunday, a sign that Russian forces were completing their seizure of the isolated Black Sea peninsula.
In a statement, the border guards said vessels from the Crimean ports of Kerch and Sevastopol had been moved to Odessa and Mariupol. The situation on Ukraine's frontiers was stable apart from in Crimea, the statement said.
Earlier, Ukraine mobilized for war and called up its reserves, after Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened to invade in the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.
Ukraine's Security Council ordered the general staff to immediately put all armed forces on highest alert, the council's secretary Andriy Parubiy announced. The Defense Ministry was ordered to conduct the call-up, potentially of all men up to 40 in a country that still has universal male conscription.
Russian forces who have already bloodlessly seized Crimea - an isolated Black Sea peninsula where most of the population are ethnic Russian and Moscow has a naval base - tried to disarm the small Ukrainian contingents there on Sunday. Some Ukrainian commanders refused to give up weapons and bases were surrounded.
Putin's declaration that he has the right to invade his neighbor - for which he quickly received the unanimous approval of his parliament - brought the prospect of war to a country of 46 million people on the ramparts of central Europe.
In Crimea, Ukraine's tiny military contingent was powerless to oppose Russian forces, who bore no insignia on their uniforms but drove vehicles with Russian plates and seized government buildings, airports and other locations in the past three days.
Russian news agencies reported that Moscow's troops had disarmed Ukrainians at several small bases.
Elsewhere on the occupied peninsula, the Russian forces appeared to be assuming a lower profile on Sunday after the pro-Moscow Crimean leader announced overnight that the situation was now "normalized". Russians had vanished from outside a small Ukrainian guard post in the port of Balaclava that they had surrounded with armored vehicles on Saturday.
The Russian forces had been greeted cheerfully by many, with a wedding party honking its horns and people snapping photos. But there were also some voices of worry.
A barricade in front of the Crimean regional parliament, which the Russians seized on Thursday, had been dismantled. A single armored vehicle with two soldiers drove through the main square, where people were snapping photos.
NATO:
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen convened an emergency meeting of NATO ambassadors in Brussels on Sunday to discuss the situation in Ukraine.
Ahead of the meeting he stated that the meeting aims at discussing Russia's military action in Ukraine.
“What Russia is doing now in Ukraine violates the principles of the United Nations Charter. It threatens peace and security in Europe. Russia must stop its military activities and its threats,” he said.
Germany:
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the situation in Ukraine was "extremely dangerous" and urged Russia to desist transgressions of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity.
"It is urgently necessary that all those responsible desist from taking further steps that can only be seen as a provocation," Steinmeier said in a statement.
"Anything else would lead to an escalation with uncertain, possibly dramatic consequences."
Steinmeier also said Russia had no right to deploy its military in Ukrainian sovereign territory beyond the rules of the treaty on the Russian Black Sea fleet.
US
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday condemned Russia's "incredible act of aggression" in Ukraine and threatened "very serious repercussions" from the United States and other countries including sanctions to isolate Russia economically.
"You just don't in the 21st century behave in 19th century fashion by invading another country on completely trumped up pre-text," Kerry told the CBS program "Face the Nation."
Kerry, however, added that Russia still has "a right set of choices" that can be made to defuse the crisis.
G8:
France has suspended participation in preparatory meetings ahead of a G8 meeting of world powers in Russia's Sochi, a source in President Francois Hollande's office said on Sunday.
"We have suspended our participation in the (G8) preparatory meetings," the source said.
In turn, British Foreign Minister William Hague said Britain will suspend its participation in preparations for a G8 meeting in Sochi after Russia violated Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity.
"The United Kingdom will join other G8 countries this week in suspending our co-operation under the G8, which Russia chairs this year, including meetings this week for the preparation of the G8 summit," Hague told reporters before boarding a flight to Kiev.
Vatican:
Pope Francis urged world leaders to promote dialogue as a way of resolving the crisis in Ukraine.
Speaking to thousands of people in St. Peter's Square during his traditional Sunday midday appearance, he said: "I am making a heartfelt appeal to the international community: support every initiative for dialogue and harmony."
Francis urged all segments of Ukrainian society to work together to overcome their misunderstandings and build a future together.
REUTERS/AP
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