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The conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage…one dead
Ben Brown reports from outside the Simferopol base where automatic gunfire has been heard
Ukraine's military says an officer has been killed in an attack on a base in Crimea, the first such death since pro-Russia forces took control in February.
Ukraine has now authorised its troops to fire in self-defence.
The attack came shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin and the leaders of Crimea signed a bill to absorb the peninsula into Russia.
Western powers condemned the treaty and a G7 and EU crisis meeting has been called for next week in The Hague.
The Ukrainian crisis began in November last year after pro-Moscow President Viktor Yanukovych abandoned an EU deal in favour of stronger ties with Russia. He fled Ukraine on 22 February after protests in which more than 80 people were killed.
'Military stage'
An eyewitness told the BBC that armed men arrived in two unmarked vehicles, storming the base in Simferopol and firing automatic weapons.
Putin told Russia's parliament Crimea had “always been part of Russia”
The Ukrainian government said a junior officer who was on duty in a park inside the base had been killed and another officer injured. A third serviceman had leg and head injuries after being beaten with iron bars, it said.
The government said the commander of the unit was captured by men wearing Russian uniforms.
Defence ministry spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov told Reuters the attack was by “unknown forces, fully equipped and their faces covered”.
The Ukrainians had had their IDs, weapons and money confiscated, he said.
Interim Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told an emergency government meeting: “The conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage.
Source: http://nunezreport.blogspot.com/2014/03/the-conflict-is-shifting-from-political.html
