epa04166878 A pro-Russian supporter flashes the ‘V’-sign during a rally in front of the security service building occupied by Pro-Russian activists in Lugansk, Ukraine, 14 April 2014. The pro-Russian activists occupying state institutions in eastern Ukraine said 14 April that they will not heed an ultimatum by the government in Kiev. Ukraine’s acting President Oleksandr Turchynov on 13 April warned that a military operation would be launched against them if the separatists did not lay down their arms by 0700 GMT. The situation escalated over the weekend when armed men in camouflage uniforms seized numerous police stations and administrative buildings in Ukraine’s eastern Russian-speaking provinces. EPA/ZURAB KURTSIKIDZE