Pro-Russian forces seized the Ukrainian naval headquarters in Sevastopol on Wednesday, a day after a Ukrainian soldier was shot dead, the first casualty of Russia's annexation of Crimea.After Vladimir Putin announced on Tuesday that Russia would absorb Crimea into its fold, attention now turns to the remaining Ukrainian military facilities on the peninsula.
On Wednesday morning, irregular local militia members entered the naval headquarters, which was then paid a visit by the head of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. Shortly afterwards, a number of Ukrainian soldiers walked out looking solemn, carrying their belongings in plastic bags.
A representative of the so-called self-defence units said they had carried out an operation to liberate soldiers held captive. "We wanted to set free the prisoners in the base that are being illegitimately held there by their commander," said Vladimir Melnik, who said he was the head of a local self-defence unit. He said a criminal case would be opened against the commander.
In Kiev, the Ukrainian prime minister, Arseniy Yatsenyuk, who on Tuesday announced that the conflict with Russia had moved to a "military phase", said he was dispatching his deputy, Vitaly Yarema, and the acting defence minister, Ihor Tenyukh, to Crimea to "resolve the situation".
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