A Russian soldier has shot dead a Ukrainian naval officer in eastern Crimea, Ukraine’s Defence Ministry said on Monday, in one of few fatalities reported since Russia took control of the Black Sea peninsula.
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The ministry gave few details of the death late on Sunday in the town of Novofyodorovka.
Russian forces took over Crimea in an almost bloodless operation before Moscow annexed the region last month.
Protests in eastern Ukraine in which pro-Russian activists seized public buildings in three cities are part of a plan to destabilise Ukraine and bring in Russian troops, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said on Monday.
Saying Russian troops were within a 30 km (19 mile) zone from the Ukrainian border, Yatseniuk told a government meeting: “An anti-Ukrainian plan is being put into operation … under which foreign troops will cross the border and seize the territory of the country.
“We will not allow this,” he said.
Reuters