Ukraine's Interior Minister said on Monday he had drafted a new special forces unit into the southern port city of Odessa after the "outrageous" failure of police to tackle pro-Russian separatists in a weekend of violence that killed dozens, according to the Associated Press.
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the new Odessa force was based on "civil activists who wanted to help the Black Sea city "in these difficult days," the AP reported.
Kiev's anger on Monday focused on the Odessa police decision to release 67 largely pro-Russian militants after supporters besieged and stormed a police station on Sunday, according to the AP.
The violence in Odessa, populated with Russians and Ukrainians, Georgians and Tatars, is seen as something as a warning sign of dangers if rebellion spreads beyond the Russian-speaking east, the AP reported. The Odessa violence was the deadliest since Moscow-oriented president Viktor Yanukovych fled to Russia in February and pro-Russian militants launched uprisings in the industrial east.
Odessa has a long history as the cosmopolitan southern gateway for the tsars' empire, with millions of inhabitants and two ports, including an oil terminal, it has become a key transport hub, according to the AP.
Ukrainian leaders have made it clear they see the police force across wide areas of the country as unreliable in the face of rebellion they say is backed by Moscow and led on the ground by Russian special forces, the AP reported.
The government's opponents accuse it of promoting "fascist" militant groups, such as Right Sector, which took part in the Kiev uprising over the winter, according to the AP.
Loss of control of Odessa would be a huge economic and political blow for Kiev, which accuses Moscow of scheming to dismember Ukraine, a country the size of France, the AP reported.