Ukraine's Western-backed prime minister said on Tuesday that his country's conflict with Russia was entering a "military stage" following claims by Kiev that one of its officers was shot and wounded in Crimea.
"The conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage," Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told an emergency government meeting. "Russian soldiers have started shooting at Ukrainian military servicemen, and that is a war crime."
Ukraine's navy chief Sergiy Gayduk said earlier that an officer had been shot and injured in the leg "during an attack against a base in (Crimea's main city of) Simferopol."
He did not specify where or when the incident happened or who was behind the attack.
But an AFP reporter outside a Ukrainian military unit in a suburb northeast of Simferopol heard a burst of gunfire coming from the building and saw two ambulances driving into the area
The region around the military unit was sealed off by what appeared to be pro-Moscow militants.
"Armed attempts to take over (Ukrainian) military units have multiplied in recent days," Gayduk said at the government meeting.
Ukraine’s Western-backed prime minister said on Tuesday that his country’s conflict with Russia was entering a “military stage” following claims by Kiev that one of its officers was shot and wounded in Crimea.
“The conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage,” Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told an emergency government meeting. “Russian soldiers have started shooting at Ukrainian military servicemen, and that is a war crime.”
Ukraine’s navy chief Sergiy Gayduk said earlier that an officer had been shot and injured in the leg “during an attack against a base in (Crimea’s main city of) Simferopol.”
He did not specify where or when the incident happened or who was behind the attack.
But an AFP reporter outside a Ukrainian military unit in a suburb northeast of Simferopol heard a burst of gunfire coming from the building and saw two ambulances driving into the area
The region around the military unit was sealed off by what appeared to be pro-Moscow militants.
“Armed attempts to take over (Ukrainian) military units have multiplied in recent days,” Gayduk said at the government meeting.
