Report: Pro-Russian Separatists Seize Eastern Ukraine City

Demonstrators carrying Russian and Ukrainian flags march to oppose president Vladimir Putin's policies in Ukraine, in Moscow, Saturday, March 15, 2014. Large rival marches have taken place in Moscow over Kremlin-bac... Demonstrators carrying Russian and Ukrainian flags march to oppose president Vladimir Putin's policies in Ukraine, in Moscow, Saturday, March 15, 2014. Large rival marches have taken place in Moscow over Kremlin-backed plans for Ukraine’s province of Crimea to break away and merge with Russia. More than 10,000 people turned out Saturday for a rally in the center of the city held to oppose what many demonstrators described as Russia’s invasion of the Crimean Peninsula. In a nearby location, a similar sized crowd voiced its support for Crimea’s ethnic Russian majority, who Moscow insists is at threat from an aggressively nationalist leadership now running Ukraine. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko) MORE LESS
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KIEV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian news agency is reporting that pro-Russian separatists who have seized the regional administration building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk proclaimed the region an independent republic.

The activists on Monday also called for a referendum on the sovereignty of the Donetsk region, which borders Russia, to be held no later than May 11, the Interfax news agency reported.

The move comes weeks after Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region following a referendum, not recognized by the West, in which Crimeans voted to join Russia.

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