Hundreds of unidentified gunmen have arrived outside Ukraine’s infantry base in Privolnoye in its Crimea region, Associated Press journalists said.
The convoy includes at least 13 troop vehicles each containing 30 soldiers and four armored vehicles with mounted machine guns. The vehicles — which have Russian license plates — have surrounded the base and are blocking Ukrainian soldiers from entering or leaving it.
Ukrainian soldiers, with clips in their weapons, have positioned a tank at the gate.
Ukraine’s acting Prime Minister said Sunday that his country was “on the brink of disaster” and called for world leaders to take “real steps” to defuse the ongoing crisis in the Crimean Peninsula even as Russian troops appeared to be advancing toward the provincial capital.