Three protesters killed in Ukraine’s Mariupol clashes

Three protesters have been killed and over a dozen injured in overnight clashes with Ukrainian forces in the southeastern city of Mariupol.

“According to preliminary data, three attackers were killed, 13 wounded and 63 detained,” Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a post on his Facebook page on Thursday.

A shoot-out broke out after an armed group tried to enter a base of Ukrainian National Guard in Donetsk Province on Wednesday.

Witnesses say security forces first fired warning shots to disperse the Molotov-hurling demonstrators, but as the attack continued, troops turned their weapons directly on the protesters.

The Ukrainian interior minister said the operation is not over yet, with dozens arrested and weapons as well as communication devices seized.

Russia says the attacks are spontaneous protests by Russian speakers who are angry at the newly-installed pro-West Ukrainian government.

On April 15, Ukraine’s acting President Oleksandr Turchynov announced “an anti-terror operation” against demonstrators in the east of the country.

Tensions remain high in the region as protesters continue to occupy government, police and other administrative buildings in nearly 10 cities close to the Russian border. They have been demanding local referendums on either independence or integration into Russia.

Pro-Russia sentiment gained momentum in the eastern and southern parts of Ukraine after the Crimean territory declared independence from the former Soviet state and formally applied to become part of the Russian Federation following a referendum on March 16, in which almost 97 percent of the participants voted for rejoining Russia, with a turnout of more than 83 percent.