Gunmen seize government buildings in Ukraine's Crimea, raise Russian flag

Gunmen seize government buildings in Ukraine&#039;s Crimea, raise Russian flag

(Image credit: Bing Maps)

last updated 8 January 2015

Tensions in Ukraine continued to rise Thursday as pro-Russian gunmen stormed government buildings in the capital of Crimea, a peninsula located 500 miles south of Kiev. Dozens of armed men believed to be Russian nationalists barricaded themselves inside the region's parliament and raised the Russian flag. Witnesses say the men carried rocket-propelled grenades and sniper rifles, but didn't put forward any demands.

Crimea, which has strong "emotional ties" to Russia but is an autonomous part of Ukraine, is the home of Russia's Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine's acting president Oleksandr Turchynov said that if Russian forces leave their bases, it will be considered an act of "military aggression."

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Jordan Valinsky is the lead writer for Speed Reads. Before joining The Week, he wrote for New York Observer's tech blog, Betabeat, and tracked the intersection between popular culture and the internet for The Daily Dot. He graduated with a degree in online journalism from Ohio University.

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