- Activists in the Ukrainian city of Donetsk occupied its regional govt headquarters and decided to call a referendum to dissociate from Ukraine and form the sovereign state of the People’s Republic of Donetsk within the administrative borders of the region, before presidential elections are held in Ukraine on May 25.
- The council also alluded to Russian President Vladimir Putin for help asking him to deploy a temporary peacekeeping force to the region. The activists are coordinating their referendum plans with forces in Kharkiv and Lugansk, where govt building have been seized too (which along with Donetsk are the main industrial centres of Ukraine).
- “Army of the South-East” from Lugansk threatened armed resistance if the demands of a referendum is not met.
- Ukraine condemned the unrest terming it as the follow up of Russia’s attempt to dismember Ukraine and that this was a plan to destabilize the situation so as to pave way for foreign forces to seize their territory.
- Ukraine has also declared that any call for federalisation is an attempt to destroy the state. Russia condemned this warning that without federalisation Ukraine will limp from crisis to crisis.
Exams Perspective:
- Ukraine Crisis
- Cry of Referendum in Donetsk
- Movement for Autonomy in Ukraine
- Russian Roadmap or Ukraine Reforms