Ukrainian Soldier 'Killed' in Crimea, Russia Mulls Sanctions

Tensions increased between Russia and Ukraine after reports of an incident at a naval base in Crimea's capital Simferopol.

Ukraine's military has announced that an officer has been killed in an attack on the base, Interfax news agency has informed. Other news sources suggest he was wounded in the neck.

Crimea's government officials have also declared that a member of their forces has died during the clashes.

In Crimea's city of Sevastopol, which is home to the Russian Black Sea Fleet, local residents have stormed a Ukrainian headquarters building, as ITAR-TASS agency has reported.

They seem to have taken over the building and raised the Russian flag over it, as local media have suggested.

Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has warned that the conflict on the Crimean peninsula is moving from a political to a "military phase".

He describe the reported assault on the Ukrainian base as "a war crime without any statute of limitations".

According to Euronews, Yatsenyuk has ordered the Defense Ministry to call a meeting with counterparts from Briatain, France, and Russia to prevent a further escalation. The three countries are signatories to the Budapest agreement which guaranteed Ukraine's borders back in 1994.

Interim President in Kiev Oleksandr Turchynov has compared Russia's annexation of Crimea, which was backed at a March 16 referendum on the peninsula, to Nazi Germany's takeover of Austria and the Sudetenland. 

Kiev has vowed not to recognize the move. 

Russia has meanwhile announced that it deems unacceptable the sanctions imposed against Moscow over the situation in Ukraine's autonomous region, the Parliament of which signed an agreement on Tuesday to be annexed...