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April 7, 2014: People gathered in front of a barricade at the regional administration building in Donetsk, Ukraine. (AP Photo/Andrey Basevych)

Ukraine's Interior Minister said Tuesday that pro-Russian demonstrators had been ejected from the regional administration building in the country's second-largest city, and approximately 70 of them had been arrested.

Arsen Avakov said on his Facebook page that an "anti-terrorist operation" was launched in the city of Kharkiv early Tuesday. He did not specify what forces took part. The Interfax news agency cited the head of the region, Igor Baluta, as saying it included police and soldiers.

The protesters were calling for a referendum on seceding from Ukraine. A similar demonstration took place in the city of Donetsk, with protesters also seized the administration building there and calling for a referendum.

Both cities are in Ukraine's east, where hostility is strong toward the government that took power in February after the ouster of Kremlin-friendly president Viktor Yanukovych. The Donetsk and Kharkiv regions and a third Russian-speaking city besieged by pro-Moscow activists over the weekend, Luhansk have a combined population of nearly 10 million out of Ukraine's 46 million, and account for the bulk of the country's industrial output.

Meanwhile, NATO Secretary General called on Russia to pull back troops from its border with Ukraine.

According to Reuters, Anders Fogh Rasmussen called the ongoing unrest in Ukraine "a great concern ... Any further move to eastern Ukraine would represent a serious escalation rather than de-escalation."

The Ukrainian government has accused Russia of stirring up the unrest. Moscow, which has tens of thousands of troops massed along the border, has rejected the allegation but has also sternly warned Ukraine against using force.

In Washington Monday, the U.S. said any move by Russia into eastern Ukraine would be a "very serious escalation" that could bring further sanctions. White House spokesman Jay Carney said there was strong evidence that some of the pro-Russian protesters were hired and were not local residents.

At the same time, the U.S. announced that Secretary of State John Kerry will meet with top diplomats from Russia, Ukraine and the European Union in a new push to ease tensions. The meeting, the first such four-way talks since the crisis erupted, will take place in the next 10 days, the State Department said.

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Ukraine says gov't building recaptured from protesters