Pro-Russian Groups Remain Resolute as Kiev Deadline Approaches

Pro-Russian protesters strengthen a barricade in front of the occupied regional administration building, in Donetsk, Ukraine, 09 April 2014. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Pro-Russian fractions continue to occupy government buildings in the eastern Ukrainian cities Luhansk and Donetsk.

Friday is the deadline set by the authorities in Kiev for the demonstrators to leave the buildings, after which the government has vowed to use force.

The pro-Russian groups remain barricaded in some of the central administrative buildings since Sunday, Euronews reports.

On Thursday, interim President Oleksandr Turchynov promised not to prosecute any activists who leave the buildings and hand in their weapons.

In other developments, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has expressed his country's readiness to take part in upcoming four-party talks with the EU, US, and Ukraine. The meeting will most likely happen next week.

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