INTENSE: Clashes broke out between Ukrainian activists protesting the occupation of local government buildings by pro-Russia separatists [PA]
An armed mob attacked a police station in Horlivka, near Donetsk, hurling rocks and ransacking the property as hundreds cheered them.
Dozens of activists hoisted a Russian flag as thick white smoke rose from the entrance.
The violence in Ukraine’s Russian- speaking eastern region followed days of unrest.
Rebels hope to follow Crimea and force a referendum on becoming part of Russia.
Foreign Secretary William Hague accused the Kremlin of orchestrating the latest attacks saying it had been “planned and brought about by Russia”.
Prime Minister David Cameron was forced to interrupt his holiday to Lanzarote to discuss the crisis with EU leaders.
Ukraine’s acting president Oleksandr Turchynov warned the mobs to give up their weapons or face a “large-scale anti-terrorist operation”.“The forces involved are well-armed, well-trained, well-equipped, well-coordinated”Foreign Secretary William Hague
His office has asked the UN to send peacekeepers as western leaders continue to stand with Ukraine.
At an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council the UK’s ambassador Sir Mark Lyall Grant warned of a “dangerous escalation of an already dangerous situation” about which the UK is “gravely concerned”.
Satellite images show between 35,000 and 40,000 Russian troops lining the border with Ukraine.
Combat aircraft, tanks and artillery and 25,000 Russian troops are already illegally in Crimea, he said.
Mr Hague said Russia’s denials that it is involved in the unrest do not have a “shred of credibility”.
He said: “The forces involved are well-armed, well-trained, well-equipped, well-coordinated, behaving exactly the same way as what turned out to be Russian forces behaved in Crimea before the full Russian military takeover.”
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