Ukraine has given pro-Russian separatists a Monday morning deadline (today) to disarm or face a “full-scale anti-terrorist operation” by its armed forces, raising the risk of a military confrontation with Moscow.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Security Council was expected to hold an emergency session during the night to discuss the escalating crisis in eastern Ukraine. The meeting was scheduled to start at midnight (GMT time)

'The Council will meet at 8am at Russia's request,' a council diplomat said on condition of anonymity. Another diplomat said negotiations were under way on Ukraine's participation.

There are telltale signs of Moscow’s involvement

Russia's Foreign Ministry said earlier it would put an urgent discussion of the situation in Ukraine on the Security Council agenda, calling Kiev's plans to mobilise the army to put down a rebellion by pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine 'criminal'.

Angered by the death of a state security officer and the wounding of two comrades near the flashpoint eastern city of Slaviansk, acting president Oleksander Turchinov gave rebels occupying state buildings until 0600 GMT to lay down their weapons.

“The National Security and Defence Council has decided to launch a full-scale anti-terrorist operation involving the armed forces of Ukraine,” Turchinov said in an address to the nation. He blamed Russia, which annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region when Moscow-backed former president Viktor Yanukovych fled after months of pro-Western protests, for being behind the rash of rebellions across Russian-speaking towns in east-ern Ukraine.

“We will not allow Russia to repeat the Crimean scenario in the eastern regions of Ukraine,” Turchinov said.

Russia’s foreign ministry called the planned military operation a “criminal order”and said the West should bring its allies in Ukraine’s government under control.

“It is now the West’s responsibility to prevent civil war in Ukraine,” the ministry said in a statement.

Earlier, the American ambassador to the UN, Samantha Power, said on ABC’s This Week that the latest events in Ukraine bore “the telltale signs of Moscow’s involvement”.

With East-West relations in crisis, Nato described the appearance in eastern Ukraine of men with specialised Russian weapons and identical uniforms without insignia – as previously worn by Moscow’s troops when they seized Crimea – as a “grave development”.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.