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The BBC's David Stern reports: Moscow denies the trouble has been ''orchestrated'' from the Kremlin
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Ukraine crisis
Nato's secretary general has expressed concern over eastern Ukraine, drawing parallels with aspects of last month's seizure of Crimea.
Men reappearing with Russian weapons and identical uniforms without insignia was a "grave development," Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Sunday.
Pro-Russian forces have targeted half a dozen cities in the region.
Ukrainian authorities launched an "anti-terror operation" after armed men took over the city of Sloviansk.
A Ukrainian officer has been killed in a gun battle in the city, and there are reports the Ukrainian operation has been halted.
But both sides suffered a number of casualties, interim Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said.
As well as Sloviansk, pro-Russian forces have entered a number of other towns and cities, taking or attempting to take control of police and government buildings.
Kiev and Western powers accuse Moscow of intimate involvement in the trouble, but the Kremlin denies the charge.
Ukrainian forces used military helicopters in the their bid to shift the Sloviansk protesters
Protesters burned tyres and bolstered their defences before the government operation began
Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen's statement released on Sunday notes that "the reappearance of men with specialised Russian weapons and identical uniforms without insignia, as previously worn by Russian troops during Russia's illegal and illegitimate seizure of Crimea, is a grave development".
A Nato source told the BBC the organisation believed that "Russian forces have been involved in the seizure of some of the buildings".
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Analysis
David Stern BBC News, Donetsk
Ukraine's authorities had said they would respond militarily to any Russian incursion into the east of their country. Now, they are accusing Moscow of an "act of aggression" and orchestrating, if not actually carrying out, the seizure of government buildings.
The question then arises: Does this mean war? Or can the government continue to carry out "anti-terrorist operations" and somehow manage to prevent this growing insurrection from exploding into a all-out conflict?
Large parts of eastern Ukraine are slipping out of Kiev's control. More and more police stations and government buildings are falling to unidentified gunmen, who carry Russian weapons and look very much like the Kremlin forces who took Crimea. Ukraine's government appears that it does not have a choice whether to use force. The choice, it seems, is being made for them.
And the US ambassador to the UN said the attacks on police and other buildings in eastern Ukraine had "telltale signs of Moscow's involvement".
"It's professional, co-ordinated. Nothing grass roots about it," ambassador Samantha Power told ABC News.
"The forces are doing in each of the six or seven cities they have been active in exactly the same thing."
Turning violent
On Saturday, armed men took over police stations and official buildings in Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhkovka.
Similar accounts emerged of armed men dressed in camouflage arriving in buses in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk and storming the police stations.
BBC reporters in Sloviansk said the gunmen were well-organised and quickly established control throughout the town. Checkpoints had been set up on the main roads into the town.
Pro-Russian activists have blockaded the security services' office in Luhansk
In the regional capital, Donetsk, several public buildings have been occupied
In the port city of Mariupol, the Ukrainian flag was removed at an official building
In other developments:
There was heavy gunfire as armed men took the police station in Kramatorsk
Interior Minister Avakov labelled the actions a "display of aggression by Russia".
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Crisis timeline
"The separatists are shooting to kill without warning against the approaching special forces," he said,
He later said Ukrainian forces had been attacked at a checkpoint on the way to Sloviansk, and at least one officer had been killed and five others wounded.
An unknown number of militants were also wounded, he said.
Witnesses at the police station said there was no sign yet of any clashes, and the centre of the town was quiet.
Eastern Ukraine has a large Russian-speaking population and has seen a series of protests since the ousting of Ukraine's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February.
BBC News - Ukraine crisis: President vows to fight pro-Russia forces
Continue reading the main story
Ukraine crisis
Nato's secretary general has expressed concern over eastern Ukraine, drawing parallels with aspects of last month's seizure of Crimea.
Men reappearing with Russian weapons and identical uniforms without insignia was a "grave development," Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Sunday.
Pro-Russian forces have targeted half a dozen cities in the region.
Ukrainian authorities launched an "anti-terror operation" after armed men took over the city of Sloviansk.
A Ukrainian officer has been killed in a gun battle in the city, and there are reports the Ukrainian operation has been halted.
But both sides suffered a number of casualties, interim Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said.
As well as Sloviansk, pro-Russian forces have entered a number of other towns and cities, taking or attempting to take control of police and government buildings.
Kiev and Western powers accuse Moscow of intimate involvement in the trouble, but the Kremlin denies the charge.
Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen's statement released on Sunday notes that "the reappearance of men with specialised Russian weapons and identical uniforms without insignia, as previously worn by Russian troops during Russia's illegal and illegitimate seizure of Crimea, is a grave development".
A Nato source told the BBC the organisation believed that "Russian forces have been involved in the seizure of some of the buildings".
Continue reading the main story
Analysis
Ukraine's authorities had said they would respond militarily to any Russian incursion into the east of their country. Now, they are accusing Moscow of an "act of aggression" and orchestrating, if not actually carrying out, the seizure of government buildings.
The question then arises: Does this mean war? Or can the government continue to carry out "anti-terrorist operations" and somehow manage to prevent this growing insurrection from exploding into a all-out conflict?
Large parts of eastern Ukraine are slipping out of Kiev's control. More and more police stations and government buildings are falling to unidentified gunmen, who carry Russian weapons and look very much like the Kremlin forces who took Crimea. Ukraine's government appears that it does not have a choice whether to use force. The choice, it seems, is being made for them.
And the US ambassador to the UN said the attacks on police and other buildings in eastern Ukraine had "telltale signs of Moscow's involvement".
"It's professional, co-ordinated. Nothing grass roots about it," ambassador Samantha Power told ABC News.
"The forces are doing in each of the six or seven cities they have been active in exactly the same thing."
Turning violent
On Saturday, armed men took over police stations and official buildings in Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and Druzhkovka.
Similar accounts emerged of armed men dressed in camouflage arriving in buses in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk and storming the police stations.
BBC reporters in Sloviansk said the gunmen were well-organised and quickly established control throughout the town. Checkpoints had been set up on the main roads into the town.
In other developments:
- Rival rallies turned violent in the eastern city of Kharkiv - Ukraine's second biggest - with reports of 10 people injured
- Pro-Russian activists wielding clubs surround Kharkiv's city council, with mayor Henadiy Kernes reportedly inside
- Unconfirmed reports suggested official buildings had also been taken over in two other cities - Mariupol and Yenakievo.
- Pro-Russian demonstrators continued occupying the main administrative building in the regional capital Donetsk, which they have held for one week
- A protest leader told the BBC that the activists in Sloviansk took action to support the Donetsk sit-in.
There was heavy gunfire as armed men took the police station in Kramatorsk
Interior Minister Avakov labelled the actions a "display of aggression by Russia".
Continue reading the main story
Crisis timeline
- Nov 2013: President Viktor Yanukovych abandons an EU deal
- Dec: Pro-EU protests erupt
- 20-21 Feb 2014: Dozens killed in Kiev clashes
- 22 Feb: Mr Yanukovych flees;
- 27-28 Feb: Pro-Russian gunmen seize key buildings in Crimea.
- 16 Mar: Crimea voters choose to secede in disputed referendum: Russia later absorbs region
- Apr: Pro-Russia activists take over government buildings and police stations in eastern Ukraine
"The separatists are shooting to kill without warning against the approaching special forces," he said,
He later said Ukrainian forces had been attacked at a checkpoint on the way to Sloviansk, and at least one officer had been killed and five others wounded.
An unknown number of militants were also wounded, he said.
Witnesses at the police station said there was no sign yet of any clashes, and the centre of the town was quiet.
Eastern Ukraine has a large Russian-speaking population and has seen a series of protests since the ousting of Ukraine's pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February.
BBC News - Ukraine crisis: President vows to fight pro-Russia forces