TEMPO.CO, Mariupol - Pro-Russian separatists managed to regain control over the city hall of Mariupol in southern Ukraine just hours after previously being routed by security forces. BBC reported that the government forces had routed the separatists and raised the Ukrainian flag on the building before leaving it unoccupied, allowing the rebels to take back control.
Tensions in some parts of Ukraine were high, especially after the annexation of Crimea on March. In the past couple of weeks, Ukraine has begun sending forces to retake the rebel-held facilities and buildings.
Earlier on Wednesday, Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, said that government troops had taken over the Mariupol's city hall following a joint operation by ministerial troops and the army. Minister Avakov later told the BBC that they have detained the defence minister of the separatist "Donetsk People's Republic" Igor Kakidzyanov, among other people.
Shortly after the Russian and the Donetsk Peoples' Republic's flags were hoisted over the city hall, tensions were riased at the police station where the detainees were being held. Heavily-armed police fired warning shots into the air as angry crowd of friends and relatives gathered at the police gates.
ANINGTIAS JATMIKA | BBC
