....At Least One Ukrainian Security Officer Killed

Photo: Pro-Russian forces occupied a police station in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk over the weekend. It was one of several government buildings in the area seized by well-equipped gunmen, some of whom, the U.S. said, appeared to be Russian special forces in unmarked uniforms. Russian Reporter Magazine/Associated Press


SLOVYANSK, Ukraine—Pro-Russian activists and militants extended their grip across eastern Ukraine, prompting the government to mobilize the military as it struggled to prevent a replay of Russia's takeover of Crimea.

The U.S. and its Western allies said some of the well-equipped gunmen who participated in seizing police stations and other buildings in several cities and towns over the weekend appeared to be Russian special forces in unmarked uniforms. Such troops moved into Crimea shortly before the region voted to secede from Ukraine and was annexed by Moscow last month.

Moscow has denied that it is behind the unrest. Sunday it denounced what it called the "use of harsh violence against protesters" by Kiev and called an urgent session of the United Nations Security Council. U.S. and Russian envoys exchanged angry words at the session, each accusing the other of meddling in Ukraine's affairs and backing violence.

Ukraine branded the gunmen terrorists and said the armed forces would be deployed to evict them. But to do so would require a show of force far greater than anything it has mustered so far.

And the risk of bloody battles is high—as the fatal shooting of a security officer in a skirmish early Sunday demonstrated. In many cases, the occupied buildings are in the center of town, surrounded by barricades of tires and sandbags and often protected by crowds of civilians—women and men.

Ukraine's army can call on several thousand troops, although they are ill-equipped and likely not well-trained in street fighting.

On the other side, the pro-Russian forces are an unknown number of heavily armed militants and young men with clubs and shields.

They haven't attracted the same level of popular support as in Crimea, which had long been part of Russia until it was transferred to Ukraine in 1954. But by expanding the territory out of Kiev's control, they are forcing the government to spread its forces thinner.

Russia also has threatened to send in its army, ostensibly to protect ethnic Russians in the region from threats of violence. It has tens of thousands of troops near the border.

The escalating tension imperils the only prospect of a peaceful resolution on the diplomatic horizon—a meeting Thursday in Geneva with envoys of Russia, Ukraine, the U.S. and the European Union. Russia has warned it could pull out if Ukraine uses force against protesters.

Amid fresh calls from Western capitals for Russian President Vladimir Putin to de-escalate the situation, the prime minister of neighboring Poland, Donald Tusk, suggested Ukraine had to respond.

"No one should encourage radical decisions from Ukraine, but the moment comes when Ukraine has to act and show that they do not accept these actions," he told reporters. "The brutal truth is that Putin will not stop where he wants, but where Ukraine lets him."

The U.S. has said it could impose stronger sanctions against broad sectors of the Russian economy unless Moscow halts attempts to destabilize its neighbor and withdraws its forces from Ukraine's borders. EU foreign ministers were to meet on Monday, but have been reluctant to get tougher because of the bloc's close economic ties with Russia.

Sen. John McCain (R., Ariz.) blasted the Obama administration's actions as inadequate to deter Mr. Putin. He called on CBS television for "some very, very severe sanctions that may cost our European friends and us something financially in the short term."

He also called for sending Ukraine "light weapons with which to defend themselves"—a step the Obama administration has so far refused to take.

At least one Ukrainian security officer was killed in what appears to have been an unsuccessful attempt early Sunday by the government to retake Slovyansk, a city of 100,000 people some 80 miles from the Russian border.

The attempt floundered early, with forces not even making it as far as the militants' hub at the central police station.

No Ukrainian authorities were visible in the center of town Sunday afternoon, as men armed with shields, sticks and guns patrolled barricades and checkpoints blocking roads into the city.

Ukraine's acting President Oleksandr Turchynov called the shooting of the officer, identified as Hennadiy Bilichenko, part of "a war waged against Ukraine by the Russian Federation."

"This is an artificially created situation of confrontation aimed at weakening and destroying Ukraine," said Mr. Turchynov in a televised address.

The seizing of smaller cities near the Russian border broadens a bridgehead established a week ago when government buildings were occupied in three large cities: Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv.

That initiative had seemed to be flagging amid push back from Kiev and less-than-enthusiastic local support. Polls show that a majority of people in the east of the country want Ukraine to have closer ties with Russia, but want to remain part of Ukraine.

The occupiers in Kharkiv were ejected quickly, and the self-appointed council of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" soon fell into infighting and never attracted crowds of more than 2,000.

But across the region Sunday, the republic's red, blue and black flag was raised on seized government buildings in smaller cities that aren't as well defended.

The strategic nature of some of the latest places seized—some on major rail and road arteries and one with an airfield—seem to indicate an element of preplanning, particularly since some had seen relatively little unrest until this weekend.

The U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said that the pro-Russian forces were doing "exactly the same thing" everywhere they are active.

"It is professional, it is coordinated. There is nothing grass-roots seeming about it," she said on ABC television Sunday. "Certainly it bears the telltale signs of Moscow's involvement."

Local police have proved ineffective against the occupations, and the new government recently disbanded the elite Berkut unit, which was accused of involvement in brutal attacks on pro-Western protesters who eventually ousted the previous, pro-Russia government in February. The security service's Alfa antiterrorist unit is also under investigation for its alleged role in trying to quell those protests.

The Ukrainian government said it was sending a reserve battalion of 350 fighters fresh from National Guard training to the east.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov also said he was creating new units of more than 12,000 civilians in eastern towns, equipped and led by police officers.

"The National Security and Defense Council has decided to launch a large-scale antiterrorist operation involving the armed forces of Ukraine," the acting president said in his address. "We won't allow Russia to repeat the Crimean scenario in the eastern regions of the country."

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Friday touted a plan to hand more power to the country's regions as a way to defuse the unrest. He also offered an amnesty to people who lay down their weapons and leave the buildings, but also warned that force could be used if they don't

Many people in the east speak Russian and fear they will be worse off if Ukraine pulls away from its giant neighbor, while those in the west want to pull closer to Europe. The industrial east was the base of support for recently ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, a Kremlin ally.

Mr. Yanukovych had spurned a trade pact with the EU last year in favor of closer ties with Moscow, setting off months of protests centered in Kiev. Dozens of people were killed in mid-February before Mr. Yanukovych fled the country.

Ukrainian officials have claimed Mr. Yanukovych and other former leaders are funding the pro-Russian forces.

Mr. Yanukovych, who is still considered the legitimate president by Russia, said Sunday that Ukraine "had one foot in a civil war." In a statement carried by Russian state media, he called on Ukraine's military not to carry out "criminal orders."

Write to James Marson at james.marson@wsj.com

Source: Wall Street Journal