A group of armed men in military uniform takes control of two airports in the Crimean region, a move Ukraine's government calls an invasion. Sarah Toms reports.
UKRAINIAN authorities say they have regained control of two Crimean airports seized during an "armed invasion" by Russian forces that prompted the country's new pro-EU leaders to appeal for protection from the West.
The spiralling tensions in a nation torn between the West and Russia took another dramatic turn on Friday, when ousted president Viktor Yanukovych emerged from hiding to insist he had not been overthrown and would continue to fight for the future of Ukraine.
'Armed invasion' ... a soldier, one of approximately 20 who were wearing no identifying insignia and declined to say whether they were Russian or Ukrainian, stands outside the Simferopol International Airport. Source: Getty Images
Mr Yanukovych told reporters in the southern Russian city of Rostov-on-Don in his first public appearance for almost a week that he had been "compelled to leave" Ukraine after he received threats to his security.
"I have not been overthrown by anyone, I was compelled to leave Ukraine due to an immediate threat to my life and the life of those close to me," he said, sitting at a desk alongside a senior editor from the ITAR-TASS news agency in front of three Ukrainian flags.
"I intend to continue the fight for the future of Ukraine against those who try to saddle it with fear and terror."
Back in the fray ... Ukraine's fugitive president Viktor Yanukovych came out of hiding to insist he was not overthrown. Source: AP
Mr Yanukovych, who fled after being impeached by parliament on Saturday, savaged the anti-Kremlin and pro-EU forces who have now taken power.
"Power in Ukraine has been taken by nationalist, pro-fascist young people who represent the absolute minority of people in Ukraine."
"This is anarchy, terror and chaos," he added.
Aftermath ... an anti-Yanukovych protester warms himself next to a fire as he guards a barricade in a street heading to Kiev's Independence Square, the epicentre of the country's current unrest. Source: AP
Meanwhile, the head of Ukraine's security and defence council said Russian soldiers and local pro-Kremlin militia were responsible for the dawn raids on Crimea's main airport and another base on the southwest of the peninsula where pro-Moscow sentiment runs high.
A spokesman for Russia's Crimea-based Black Sea Fleet denied any involvement in the airport occupations. But Ukraine's parliament immediately appealed to the US and Britain to uphold a 1994 pact with Russia that guaranteed the country's sovereignty in return for it giving up its Soviet nuclear arms.
Both MPs and UN Security Council chair Lithuania said they would also ask the world body to address the Crimea crisis at its next session — a request that would need to gain support from veto-wielding members such as Russia.
Heightened security ... Russian troops block the road way towards the military airport at the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Crimea. Source: AP
In Kiev, interim president Oleksandr Turchynov attempted to regain control over unravelling security in the vast nation of 46 million by sacking the armed forces chief appointed by Mr Yanukovych at the height of deadly protests last week.
Western governments have been watching with increasing alarm as Kiev's new rulers grapple with the dual threats of economic collapse and secession by Russian-speaking southern and eastern regions that had backed Yanukovych.
Nation divided ... pro-Russian supporters warm up with tea while gathering outside the Crimean parliament building. Source: Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin this week stoked concerns that Moscow might use its military might to sway the outcome of Ukraine's three-month standoff by ordering snap combat drills near the border involving 150,000 troops and nearly 900 tanks.
US Secretary of State John Kerry attempted to relieve diplomatic pressure in a crisis that has increasingly assumed Cold War overtones by announcing that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov had assured him Moscow "will respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine".
Tensions simmer ... gunmen patrol Crimea. Source: Getty Images
Mr Putin also appeared to take a more conciliatory approach on Thursday by vowing to work on improving trade ties and promising to support international efforts to provide Kiev with funds that could keep it from declaring a debt default as early as next week.
But tensions were soaring by the hour in Russian-speaking Crimea — a scenic Black Sea peninsula that has housed Kremlin navies for nearly 250 years and was handed to Ukraine as a symbolic gift by a Soviet leader in 1954.
Militaristic scenes ... Pro-Russian demonstrators hold placards reading "Crimea for peace" as they stand on a T-34 Soviet tank, set as a WWII monument in front of the Crimean parliament. Source: AFP
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