<p>Ukraine warned today its conflict with Russia had entered a "military stage" and authorised its troops to open fire in self-defence after suffering the first casuality since pro-Kremlin forces seized Crimea nearly three weeks ago.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The dramatic escalation to the raging security crisis on the EU's eastern frontier came hours after President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty claiming Crimea as Russian territory after the Black Sea region overwhelmingly voted on Sunday in favour of switching from Ukrainian to Kremlin rule.<br /><br />Ukraine's Western-backed Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told an urgent government meeting in Kiev that his ex-Soviet country's conflict with its giant nuclear-armed neighbour was threatening to spiral out of control.<br /><br />"The conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage," Yatsenyuk said in remarks broadcast live across the culturally splintered nation of 46 million people.<br /><br />"Russian soldiers have started shooting at Ukrainian military servicemen, and that is a war crime," Yatsenyuk said.<br /><br />Ukraine's interim president Oleksandr Turchnynov later issued a statement placing responsiblity for "the blood of Ukrainian soldiers (on) the leadership of the Russian Federation and specifically President Putin."<br /><br />Regional defence ministry spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov told AFP the soldier had died after being shot in the neck when a group of gunmen stormed a Ukrainian military base in the northeast of Crimea's main city of Simferopol.<br /><br />Seleznyov said another soldier was wounded but did not specify whether the base was stormed by Russian soldiers or pro-Kremlin militia who also patrol the peninsula.<br /><br />But the Ukrainian defence ministry said in a statement the military base was attacked by people "dressed in the military uniforms of servicemen of the armed forces of the Russian Federation."<br /><br />"For their self defence and protection of their lives, Ukrainian servicemen... deployed in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea are allowed to use arms," the defence ministry said.<br /><br />Ukrainian authorities had previously forbidden its Crimean soldiers from opening fire -- in some cases forcing them to stand guard at their bases with empty rifles -- in order not to proke a Russian offensive that could spill into an all-out war.<br /><br />The defence ministry statement identified the first Ukrainian victim as warrant officer S V Kakurin.<br /><br />There was no immediate reaction to the reported death from either Russian authorities in Moscow or the peninsula's rebel leadership. <br /><br />Defence ministry spokesman Seleznyov said pro-Russian forces had by late today taken complete control of Ukraine's Simferopol base.<br /><br />"The centre has been taken under their full control. All the servicemen inside were lined up in a row and their documents seized," he said.<br /><br />"They were all informed that they were under arrest."<br /><br />Seleznyov said he could not immediately say how many Ukrainian soldiers had been arrested or the number of pro-Russians involved in the attack.<br /><br />Russian forces took de facto control of the peninsula at the beginning of March after the toppling last month of the pro-Kremlin regime in Ukraine and the rise to power of a new Western-backed administration that is seeking closer ties with the European Union.<br /><br />Ukraine's navy chief Sergiy Gayduk had told the same government meeting that an officer had been shot and injured in the leg "during an attack against a base in Simferopol."<br /><br />He did not specify where or when the attack happened or who was behind it, and it was not immediately clear if it was the same incident.<br /><br />An AFP reporter outside a Ukrainian military unit in a suburb northeast of Simferopol heard a burst of gunfire coming from the building and saw two ambulances driving into the area.<br /><br />The region around the military unit was sealed off by what appeared to be pro-Moscow militants.<br /><br />"Armed attempts to take over (Ukrainian) military units have multiplied in recent days," Gayduk said.</p>
<p>Ukraine warned today its conflict with Russia had entered a "military stage" and authorised its troops to open fire in self-defence after suffering the first casuality since pro-Kremlin forces seized Crimea nearly three weeks ago.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The dramatic escalation to the raging security crisis on the EU's eastern frontier came hours after President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty claiming Crimea as Russian territory after the Black Sea region overwhelmingly voted on Sunday in favour of switching from Ukrainian to Kremlin rule.<br /><br />Ukraine's Western-backed Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told an urgent government meeting in Kiev that his ex-Soviet country's conflict with its giant nuclear-armed neighbour was threatening to spiral out of control.<br /><br />"The conflict is shifting from a political to a military stage," Yatsenyuk said in remarks broadcast live across the culturally splintered nation of 46 million people.<br /><br />"Russian soldiers have started shooting at Ukrainian military servicemen, and that is a war crime," Yatsenyuk said.<br /><br />Ukraine's interim president Oleksandr Turchnynov later issued a statement placing responsiblity for "the blood of Ukrainian soldiers (on) the leadership of the Russian Federation and specifically President Putin."<br /><br />Regional defence ministry spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov told AFP the soldier had died after being shot in the neck when a group of gunmen stormed a Ukrainian military base in the northeast of Crimea's main city of Simferopol.<br /><br />Seleznyov said another soldier was wounded but did not specify whether the base was stormed by Russian soldiers or pro-Kremlin militia who also patrol the peninsula.<br /><br />But the Ukrainian defence ministry said in a statement the military base was attacked by people "dressed in the military uniforms of servicemen of the armed forces of the Russian Federation."<br /><br />"For their self defence and protection of their lives, Ukrainian servicemen... deployed in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea are allowed to use arms," the defence ministry said.<br /><br />Ukrainian authorities had previously forbidden its Crimean soldiers from opening fire -- in some cases forcing them to stand guard at their bases with empty rifles -- in order not to proke a Russian offensive that could spill into an all-out war.<br /><br />The defence ministry statement identified the first Ukrainian victim as warrant officer S V Kakurin.<br /><br />There was no immediate reaction to the reported death from either Russian authorities in Moscow or the peninsula's rebel leadership. <br /><br />Defence ministry spokesman Seleznyov said pro-Russian forces had by late today taken complete control of Ukraine's Simferopol base.<br /><br />"The centre has been taken under their full control. All the servicemen inside were lined up in a row and their documents seized," he said.<br /><br />"They were all informed that they were under arrest."<br /><br />Seleznyov said he could not immediately say how many Ukrainian soldiers had been arrested or the number of pro-Russians involved in the attack.<br /><br />Russian forces took de facto control of the peninsula at the beginning of March after the toppling last month of the pro-Kremlin regime in Ukraine and the rise to power of a new Western-backed administration that is seeking closer ties with the European Union.<br /><br />Ukraine's navy chief Sergiy Gayduk had told the same government meeting that an officer had been shot and injured in the leg "during an attack against a base in Simferopol."<br /><br />He did not specify where or when the attack happened or who was behind it, and it was not immediately clear if it was the same incident.<br /><br />An AFP reporter outside a Ukrainian military unit in a suburb northeast of Simferopol heard a burst of gunfire coming from the building and saw two ambulances driving into the area.<br /><br />The region around the military unit was sealed off by what appeared to be pro-Moscow militants.<br /><br />"Armed attempts to take over (Ukrainian) military units have multiplied in recent days," Gayduk said.</p>