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More than 2,000 pro-Russian militants storm the police headquarters in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa, where 42 people died in earlier clashes. (Posted May 5, 2014)

ODESSA, Ukraine

Fighting continued near the eastern city of Slaviansk where Ukrainian troops have been, somewhat tentatively, pressing a campaign to end pro-Russian rebellion. A Reuters correspondent said gunfire seemed to be coming closer to the city center.

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 entire leadership of the local police had been sacked and could face criminal action.

"The police in Odessa acted outrageously, possibly in a criminal fashion," Avakov said on his Facebook page. "The 'honor of the uniform' will offer no cover."

That could fuel anger among the government's opponents, who accuse it of promoting "fascist" militant groups, such as Right Sector, which took part in the Kiev uprising over the winter.

Odessa, a city of a million people, with a grand history as the cosmopolitan southern gateway for the tsars' empire, has two ports, including an oil terminal, and is a key transport hub.

It would also heighten Western concern that Ukraine, already culturally divided between an industrial, Russian-speaking east and a more westward looking west, could disintegrate. As well as humanitarian problems that could entail, neighboring NATO and EU countries would face a deep crisis in relations with Moscow, which supplies much of Western countries' energy via Ukraine.

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 Sunday.

The crowd of several hundred chanted "Odessa is a Russian city!" Russian is the first language of many of its residents.

Read more from the original source:
Ukraine special forces enlisted to control Odessa