Ukraine accuses Russia of 'armed invasion' in Crimea

Appeals to the West to guarantee its territorial integrity

Ukraine accused Russia of staging an "armed invasion" of Crimea today and appealed to the West to guarantee its territorial integrity after pro-Kremlin gunmen took control of the peninsula's main airport.

 

The spiralling tensions in a splintered nation torn between Russia and the West were due to take a dramatic new turn later today when ousted president Viktor Yanukovych briefs reporters after winning protection from Moscow.

 

Unidentified armed men in full combat gear were patrolling outside of Crimea's main airport early today while gunmen were also reported to have seized another airfield on the southwest of the peninsula where ethnic Russians are a majority and where pro-Moscow sentiment runs high.

 

Ukraine's parliament immediately appealed to the United States and Britain to uphold a 1994 pact signed with Russia that guaranteed the country's sovereignty in return for it giving up its Soviet nuclear arms.

 

Interim president Oleksandr Turchynov also told agitated lawmakers that he was convening the country's security and defence chiefs for an emergency meeting over the unfolding crisis.

 

Western governments have been been watching with increasing worry as Kiev's new pro-EU rulers grapple with dual threats of economic collapse and secession from Russian-speaking southern and eastern regions that had backed fugitive ex-president Viktor Yanukovych.

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin this week stoked concerns that Moscow might use its military might to sway the outcome of Ukraine's three-month standoff by ordering snap combat drills near its border involving 150,000 troops and nearly 900 tanks.

 

US Secretary of State John Kerry attempted to relieve diplomatic pressure that has increasingly assumed Cold War overtones by announcing that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had assured him that Moscow "will respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine."

 

Putin also appeared to take a more conciliatory approach late yesterday by vowing to work on improving trade ties with Ukraine and promising to support international efforts to provide Kiev with funds that could keep it from declaring a debt default as early as next week.

 

Yet tensions continued to soar by the hour in the Russian-speaking Crimea -- a scenic Black Sea peninsula that has housed Kremlin navies for nearly 250 years and was handed to Ukraine as a symbolic gift by a Soviet leader in 1954.