One officer has been shot dead in an ongoing "anti-terror" operation launched by Ukraine's special forces to curb a separatist insurgency in the eastern town of Slovyansk.
Gunfire between pro-Russian armed men and Ukraine's security forces also left five people wounded on Sunday, an Anadolu Agency correspondent reports from the scene.
Earlier on Sunday, Ukraine's acting interior minister announced the start of an "anti-terror" operation in the town.
The move came after unidentified gunmen seized the district police headquarters in Slovyansk early Saturday in an operation that has been described by local residents and police officials as 'highly organized' and with 'professional precision.'
Ukraine's mostly Russian-speaking east appears as the current flashpoint of the ongoing conflict between Russia and the West over Kiev’s allegiances.
Developments in the last two days are reminiscent of the February incidents in Crimea where pro-Russian armed men seized government buildings following the ouster of former President Viktor Yanukovych.
Defying Kiev, the Crimean peninsula voted in a March 16 referendum to secede from Ukraine to join Russia. The move became official on March 21.
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