Ukraine has launched an "anti-terrorist" operation against pro-Russian separatists occupying government buildings in many of its eastern cities
Police arrested 70 pro-Russian demonstrators in Kharkiv on Tuesday, as protesters in two other cities held similar standoffs. Ukrainian authorities gave few details of the "operation that cleared the building in Kharkiv but said two police had been wounded by a grenade.
Ukrainian special forces in combat gear, helmets and balaclavas and carrying machine guns stood guard outside the building early on Tuesday. A partly destroyed sign near the main door read: "Avakov – to jail", a reference to the Ukrainian interior minister, Arsen Avakov.
Avakov made mention of the operation to clear the buildings on his Facebook page: "An anti-terrorist operation has been launched. The city center is blocked along with metro stations. Do not worry. Once we finish, we will open them again."
The Interfax-Ukraine news agency quoted the interior ministry saying those detained were suspected of "illegal activity related to separatism, the organization of mass disorder, damage to human health" and breaking other laws.
Ukraine's acting president, Oleksander Turchinov, made a televised address to the nation in which he accused Moscow of orchestrating the protests in an attempt to repeat "the Crimea scenario".
Russia has denied Ukrainian charges of involvement but warned Kiev against any use of force against Russian-speakers. On Tuesday, Russia's foreign ministry called on Kiev to stop massing military forces it said were tasked with suppressing anti-government protests in the south-east of the country.
"We call for an immediate halt to military preparations which could lead to an outbreak of civil war," the ministry said in a statement.
The pro-Russian protesters still barricaded inside official buildings in Luhansk and Donetsk demanded that referendums be held on whether to join Russia, similar to the one that preceded Moscow's annexation of Crimea.
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The chief executive of a private bank has been shot dead in the underground car park of his bank's headquarters in the principality of Liechtenstein, Swiss media report.
SRF online named him as Juergen Frick, head of Bank Frick, based in Balzers near the Swiss border.
Police confirmed the shooting of a 48-year-old man but did not name him.
Detectives named a former fund manager as the suspect and said they believed he may have taken his own life.
The suspect, Juergen Hermann, calls himself the "Robin Hood of Liechtenstein" on his website.
He is reported to have spent years feuding with Bank Frick and Liechtenstein's government over financial matters.
Liechtenstein police said officers had found Mr Hermann's passport which contained a hand-written note in which he confessed to the shooting and wrote "parting words".
Clothes found
They said that sniffer dogs had followed a trail to a stretch of the River Rhine where Mr Hermann's clothes were found.
Police said that although it appeared likely he had taken his own life, efforts to find him were continuing.
According to reports, Mr Hermann had been spotted on the car park's surveillance cameras.
Police quickly named him as the suspected gunman and warned the public that he was considered armed and dangerous.
Mr Hermann's car was later found abandoned in countryside near the Rhine, close to the borders with Austria and Switzerland.
Police sealed off a wide area and were using dogs and helicopters in the search.
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