Ukraine moved today to mobilise a volunteer force to ward off Russia's expansionist threat as Berlin warned Moscow of long-term damage to its economy and EU relations over the Crimea crisis.
The Verkhovna Rada parliament unanimously backed the creation of a new force of up to 60,000 volunteers who could keep Russian troops from advancing beyond the Crimean peninsula they seized at the start of the month.
The dramatic decision to bolster Ukraine's defences with people outside the army came shortly after US President Barack Obama threw his full weight behind Ukraine's new pro-European leaders in their Cold War-style standoff with the Kremlin.
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National Security and Defence Council chief Andriy Parubiy said the new National Guard would "ensure state security, defend the borders, and eliminate terrorist groups" -- a term many in Kiev use to call the well-armed militias who patrol Crimea alongside Russian troops.
Ukraine's conventional army of 130,000 soldiers -- half of them conscripts with ageing equipment -- is dwarfed by a 845,000-strong Russian force that has the backup of nuclear weapons.
The flaring crisis on the eastern edge of Europe was sparked by the ouster last month of a pro-Kremlin regime that prompted President Vladimir Putin to seek and win the right to use force against a neighbour for the first time since a brief 2008 war with Georgia.
The more nationalist and Western-leaning team that rose to power on the back of a deadly popular revolt is viewed with derision by Putin and increasing warmth by Washington and EU states.
Putin's March 1 decision to order troops into Crimea for the "protection" of the Russian-speaking majority there now threatens to bring down a host of political and economic sanctions that could leave the Kremlin more isolated from the West than at any point since the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel -- a fluent Russian speaker whose upbringing in Communist East Germany shaped both her cautious approach to Moscow and understanding of the importance of keeping relations with the Kremlin on track -- delivered her most ominous warning to date in an appearance before the German parliament.
