DHAKA: Ukraine’s embattled prime minister on Monday accused Russia of trying to ‘dismember’ his country by plotting seizures of government buildings in eastern regions that are seeking to break away from Kiev.

Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk’s latest volley against Ukraine’s giant neighbor came as his top lieutenants fanned out across the heavily Russified eastern swathes of the country trying to regain a semblance of control.

Thousands of irate pro-Russian activists broke through police lines on Sunday and occupied the administration buildings in the big industrial cities of Kharkiv and Donetsk as well as the headquarters of the regional security service in Lugansk. AFP reporters saw pro-Russian activists leave the Kharkiv government headquarters on Monday morning even while a few hundred of their supporters continued to rally outside.

But the situation in the other two cities remained tense amid unconfirmed reports that pro-Russians had also stormed the security building in Donetsk.

Saying Russian troops were within a 30km 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, reports The Straits Times.

BDST: 1650 HRS, APR 07, 2014