Ukraine on 'combat alert' as rebels gain ground

Ukraine's armed forces are on "full combat alert" against a possible Russian invasion, Kiev said today, as authorities admitted they were "helpless" to prevent pro-Kremlin insurgents tightening their grip on the increasingly chaotic east of the country.
Rebels stormed the regional police building and town hall in the eastern Ukrainian city of Gorlivka, local officials said, adding to more than a dozen locations already under their control.
The new seizure followed clashes in nearby Lugansk yesterday, as hundreds of pro-Russia protesters spearheaded by a heavily armed mob attacked the police station.
Today, the rebels lifted their siege of the HQ building after the police chief promised to step down.

In another apparent gain for the rebels, local media reported pro-Russian militants had seized the council building in the city of Alchevsk without encountering resistance.
Ukraine's interim president Oleksandr Turchynov told his cabinet that the nation's law enforcement bodies were "helpless" to prevent the insurgents storming official buildings in the restive east.

He said the nation's armed forces have been put on "full combat alert" in the face of what he called a "real threat" of Russia starting a war against the former Soviet Republic.
Turchynov urged Ukrainian "patriots" to bolster the beleaguered police force, which he has criticised for "inaction and in some cases treachery".

His priority was to prevent "terrorism" spreading in the restive east, where he said some police officers were even cooperating with the separatists.
He warned also that there could be "acts of sabotage" by Russia during public holidays at the beginning of May.
The defence ministry announced that the security services would hold drills in central Kiev overnight but this was not expected to involve military hardware.
Yulia Tymoshenko, a former prime minister who is a frontrunner for presidential elections on May 25, said Russia had already started an "undeclared war" against her country.
The West has accused Russia of fomenting the crisis and backing the rebels and has imposed sanctions to try to get Moscow to back down.

The United States and EU members see the insurgency as a bid to destabilise Ukraine ahead of the elections but Moscow denies it has a hand in the rebellion.
President Vladimir Putin insisted late yesterday that there were "neither Russian instructors, nor special units, nor troops" operating in Ukraine.
The separatists have vowed to hold a referendum on closer ties with Russia on May 11.