EU could hold summit next week to agree Russia sanctions-Fabius

At least 100 pro-Russian separatists attacked the police headquarters in the east Ukraine city of Horlivka on Monday, a witness told Reuters.
   
Video footage on Ukrainian television showed an ambulance treating people who were apparently injured during the attack on the main police building in the Donetsk region city, which has a population of around 300,000 people.

Pro-Russian separatists who said they were part of a new "Donetsk People's Republic" in eastern Ukraine appealed on Monday for Russian President Vladimir Putin to help defend them against Ukrainian government forces.

Speaking at a news conference at the headquarters of the city administration of Slaviansk, a separatist leader asked Putin "to personally direct your attention to the unfolding situation and help us as much as you can."

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin is watching the situation in Ukraine with great concern, his spokesman said on Monday.

Asked about the pro-Russian separatists' call on Putin to help defend them against government forces, Dmitry Peskov said: "Unfortunately, there's a great many such appeals coming from the Eastern Ukrainian regions addressed directly to Putin to intervene in this or that form," he said.

"The president is watching the developments in Eastern Ukraine with great concern."

This comes after a Ukrainian government deadline to pro-Russian separatists to lay down their arms and end their occupation of state buildings in the eastern town of Slaviansk passed on Monday with no signs of the rebels complying, a Reuters witness said.

A Reuters correspondent said a Russian flag still flew over police headquarters as of 9 a.m. local time on Monday, one of two buildings taken over by the separatists, while masked men continued to man barricades of sandbags in front of it.

A truck appeared bringing more tyres to heap on top of the barricades to reinforce them.

Over the weekend, armed separatists took control of a city in eastern Ukraine and Kiev prepared troops to tackle what it called an "act of aggression by Russia".

The West accuses Russia of destabilizing the region as a pretext to potentially sending in troops to protect the local Russian-speaking population, as it did in its annexation of Crimea.

Local reactions:

Ukraine's interim president said on Monday that the Kiev leadership was "not against" a referendum being held on the type of state Ukraine should be and added he was sure it would confirm the wish of the majority for a united, independent country.
   
The holding of a referendum has been one of the demands of separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
   
Oleksander Turchinov, in televised remarks to a parliamentary committee, added that such a poll could be held at the same time as a presidential election on May 25.
   
He added that an anti-terrorist operation involving the army would begin in eastern Ukraine, unless rebels laid down their arms, and that the Donbass region "will soon be stabilized".

International Reactions:

France's Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Monday European Union leaders could hold a summit next week to adopt new sanctions against Russia.

"If it is necessary, there could be a meeting of heads of state and government on a European level next week, which might adopt new sanctions," Fabius told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Luxembourg to discuss the Ukraine crisis.

Earlier, a German foreign ministry spokeswoman said Russia may be playing a behind-the-scenes role in escalating tensions in eastern Ukraine.
   
"We have numerous sources that suggest Russia may be playing a role in the clashes," the spokeswoman told a government news conference.
   
Separately, a government spokeswoman said European Union foreign ministers meeting in Luxembourg on Monday would discuss whether tensions in eastern Ukraine justified the implementation of tougher "third phase" economic sanctions against Russia.
   
"Whether the current situation in Ukraine is reason to move to the third phase of sanctions will be discussed by EU foreign ministers this afternoon," the second spokeswoman said.

This comes after Russian Foreign Ministry Sergei Lavrov said Ukraine's Russian-speaking eastern regions should be involved in drafting the constitution that should be put to a referendum, mooted by Kiev, on the type of state Ukraine should be.
   
Speaking at a news conference after meeting his Sudanese counterpart, Lavrov said it was not in Russia's interests for Ukraine to break up, but that Moscow wanted all citizens of the country to be given equal treatment by Kiev.
   
He denied Ukrainian and U.S. allegations that Russia had undercover agents fomenting unrest in eastern Ukraine, and said he was seeking explanation of media reports that the director of the CIA, John Brennan, had visited Kiev.

In turn, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that a political resolution was the only way to end the Ukraine crisis, as Moscow and Kiev edged closer to a military confrontation.
   
Wang made the comments during a meeting in Beijing with his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who said that both China and Germany had an interest in ensuring that the Crimea issue does not set a precedent.

"The developments in Ukraine are of great concern, and both China and Germany have an interest in ensuring that what we have seen in Crimea doesn't set a precedent," German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
   

REUTERS