Ukraine’s police and security forces are “helpless” to quell unrest in two eastern regions bordering Russia, the country’s president has said.
Oleksandr Turchynov said in some cases units are cooperating with pro-Russian gunmen who have seized scores of government buildings and taken people hostage.
He said the goal now was to prevent the agitation from spreading to other territories.
“I will be frank: Today, security forces are unable to quickly take the situation in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions under control,” Mr Turchynov said at a meeting with regional governors.
“The security bodies … are unable to carry out their duties of protecting citizens. They are helpless in those matters. Moreover, some of those units are either helping or cooperating with terrorist organisations.”
Turchynov instructed the governors to try to prevent the threat from spreading to more central and southern regions.
He spoke hours after pro-Russian gunmen seized more administrative buildings in eastern Ukraine.
Insurgents wielding automatic weapons took control and hoisted a separatist flag on top of the city council building in the city of Horlivka in the Donetsk region. They also took control of a police station in the city, adding to another police building which they had controlled for several weeks.
A reporter saw armed men standing guard outside the building and checking the documents of those entering.
The insurgents now control buildings in about a dozen cities in eastern Ukraine, demanding broader regional rights as well as greater ties or outright annexation by Russia.