Another Ukraine province goes the Crimea way

Pro-Russia protesters backed by violent separatist rallies stormed East Ukraine government offices and seized government buildings in three eastern Ukrainian cities on Sunday, establishing  Russian influence in yet another Ukrainian province.

Ukraine's prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk accused Russia of backing the separatist unrest in the eastern cities of Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kharkiv.

He told a cabinet meeting that the violent demonstrations are clearly part of a plan to destabilize the situation and allow "foreign" troops to cross the border and seize Ukrainian territory.

Yatsenyuk said Russian troops remain stationed within 30 kilometers of Ukraine.

Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, in a televised address to the nation, said Moscow was attempting to repeat ''the Crimea scenario.''

He said ''anti-terrorist measures'' would be deployed against those who had taken up arms even as separatists demanded that Ukraine's eastern regions hold referendums on whether to split from Ukraine and become part of Russia.

Pro-Russia activists in Donetsk have even proclaimed a sovereign "People's Republic of Donetsk.''

''In the event of aggressive action from the illegitimate Kyiv authorities, we will appeal to the Russian Federation to bring in a peacekeeping contingent,'' they stated in their proclamation.

They also said a referendum on the region's future will be held by 11 May at the latest.

Russia, meanwhile, has proposed a federal structure for Ukraine in which regions of the country of 46 million would have broad powers of autonomy.

Ukraine, on the other hand is planning a ''de-centralisation'' in which smaller municipalities would be able to retain a portion of state taxes.

It slammed the Russian proposal as aimed at breaking up the former Soviet republic.

"It is an attempt to destroy Ukrainian statehood, a script which has been written in the Russian Federation, the aim of which is to divide and destroy Ukraine and turn part of Ukraine into a slave territory under the dictatorship of Russia,'' Yatsenyuk said of what he called the Russian plan.