DHAKA: Pro-Russian activists who seized the main administration building in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk have proclaimed the creation of a sovereign ‘people’s republic’ independent of Kiev rule.

A spokesman for the protesters who came from the occupied building announced the decision to reporters on Monday, says Al Jazeera.

Footage posted on YouTube showed one Russian speaker telling the packed assembly from a podium, ‘I proclaim the creation of the sovereign state of the People’s Republic of Donetsk’.

The protesters had broken into the building, of the industrial city near the Russian border, a day earlier.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, other pro-Russian activists broke into the state security headquarters in the eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk and raided its arsenal, prompting Ukrainian police to close down all roads leading to the city.

‘Unknown people who are in the building have broken into the building’s arsenal and have seized weapons,’ police said in a statement on Monday, adding that they had been put on alert and had blocked all entrances to the city.

BDST: 1744 HRS, APR 07, 2014