Ukraine appeals for world help to ward off Russian invasion

Ukraine appeals for world help to ward off Russian invasion

Associated Press

PEREVALNE, Ukraine

Warning that it was “on the brink of disaster,” Ukraine put its military on high alert today and appealed for international help to avoid what it feared was the possibility of an invasion by Russia.

Outrage over Russia’s tactics mounted in world capitals, with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry calling on President Vladimir Putin to pull back from “an incredible act of aggression.”

Fearing that Europe’s borders were being rewritten by force, world leaders rushed to find a diplomatic solution to the dispute. But there was no denying what had already happened on the ground: Russia captured the Black Sea peninsula on Saturday without firing a shot.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said there was no reason for Russia to invade Ukraine and warned that “we are on the brink of disaster.”

“We believe that our western partners and the entire global community will support the territorial integrity and unity of Ukraine,” he said Sunday in Kiev.

NATO held an emergency meeting in Brussels, Britain’s foreign minister flew to Kiev to support its new government and the U.S., France and Britain debated the possibility of boycotting the next Group of Eight economic summit, being held in June at Sochi, the host of Russia’s successful Winter Olympics.

In Kiev, Moscow and other cities, thousands of protesters took to the streets to either decry the Russian occupation or celebrate Crimea’s return to its former ruler.

“Support us, America!” a handful of protesters chanted outside the U.S. Embassy in Kiev. One young girl held up a placard reading: “No Russian aggression!”