CRI听力:Protestors Still Occupying Govt Building in E Ukraine

Pro-Russian protesters are continuing their occupation of government buildings in eastern Ukraine, a day after Kiev launched a so-called "anti-terrorist operation."

Ukrainian government forces have clashed with around 30 gunmen at an airport near the city of Slovyansk on Tuesday night.

Armored personnel carriers and aircraft are being stationed about 40 kilometers west of Slovyansk, a city that sits just 160 kilometers away from the Russian border, where an estimated 40-thousand Russian troops are situated.

Roadblocks have also been set up to search vehicles heading into Slovyansk.

Vasyl Krutov is the head of Ukraine's anti-terrorist unit.

"This is an anti-terrorist operation against the active aggression that makes the economic, social and political life of the Ukraine hard, which is heating up a very dangerous situation for the country."

Ukraine's central government contends the insurgents are being stirred up by paid operatives from Russia.

Pro-Russia activists have seized numerous government facilities in at least nine eastern Ukrainian cities.

Kiev's use of force has been tacitly approved by Washington, but denounced by Moscow.

Russian Foreign Sergey Lavrov is calling on the government in Kiev to end its operations against pro-Russian groups there.

"We will be trying to settle the situation in a peaceful way and do everything so that the Kiev government will consider, with respect, the opinion and demands of the people living in the southeast of Ukraine and immediately start negotiations with them to relieve the situation instead of trying to escalate it by using national security, defense and law enforcement agencies, especially the army which is prohibited by Ukrainian law."

Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin contends the escalation of the conflict in Ukraine has brought the country to the verge of civil war.

Putin has made that suggestion while speaking with German Chancellor Angela Merkel during a telephone conversation late Tuesday.

The teleconference between them comes just ahead of a four-party negotiation planned for this week in Geneva.

Envoys from Russia, Ukraine, the European Union and the United States are scheduled to meet to discuss the unrest in Ukraine.

Meanwhile the U.S. State Department says it anticipates brining in more Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia.

State department spokesperson Jen Psaki.

"Well, they are all on the table.　There are a range of individuals who have ties to the Russian government, tied to the events happening in Ukraine, that we are looking at and we are certainly prepared to sanction.　If escalation continues, sectoral sanctions, of course, also remain a viable option and we have the tools, if we decide to move in that direction."

The US State Department is suggesting any new round of U.S. sanctions against Russia will likely to target influential people or firms in its business sectors, such as energy, engineering and financial services.

The US government has already imposed sanctions on a number of Russian individuals and institutions following the Russian move to absorb Crimea into the Russian Federation.