April 17, 2014 2:03 a.m. ET
A man climbs up a post to remove a Ukrainian flag as protesters hold a rally outside the mayor's office in Mariupol, Ukraine, April 13, 2014. Reuters
MOSCOW—Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday accused the Kiev government of committing "a serious crime" by sending in troops to quell unrest in Ukraine's east, as a clash overnight left three pro-Russian protesters dead and 13 wounded.
Photos
Ukrainian soldiers standing on a combat vehicle try to negotiate with pro-Russian protesters in Kramatorsk, in eastern Ukraine, on Wednesday. Reuters
Mr. Putin said the situation in the east—where pro-Russian militants have seized control of 10 cities—could only be resolved through dialogue and that he held out hope that a compromise could be reached in four-way talks being held later Thursday in Geneva.
"Instead of realizing that something has gone wrong in Ukraine and making attempts to start dialogue, they have intensified their threats to use force and have even decided to send tanks and aircraft against the civilian population," Mr. Putin said during his annual televised call-in show. "It is another very serious crime on the part of the current Kiev authorities."
Ukraine has accused Russia of sending agents into the region to foment unrest, but Mr. Putin insisted that Russia has no forces present in the country.
"Such claims are nonsense," he said.
The pro-Russian protesters were killed as they attempted to storm a military installation in the southeastern Ukraine city of Mariupol. The violence overnight marked the bloodiest altercation since the start of a Ukrainian "antiterrorist" military operation to drive out the militants.
The attack began late Wednesday, when around 300 people tried to storm a national guard base in the coastal city after the guards there refused the crowd's demand to lay down their weapons and switch sides. The protesters then opened fired on the guards and began hurling Molotov cocktails, Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said.
Interior Ministry police, special forces commandos and the state security service joined in the response, some being flown in by helicopter, and "after a short battle, the gang of attackers was dispersed and disarmed," Mr. Avakov said.
No one among the Ukrainian forces was hurt, he said. Police arrested 63 protesters and seized a large cache of weapons, and were patrolling the streets in the city Thursday morning in an effort to restore order, Mr. Avakov added.
Pro-Russian partisans took control of the Mariupol city council over the weekend as part of a wave of government building seizures in eastern cities where armed militants demanded a referendum on granting the region greater independence.
Mr. Putin said that people in eastern Ukraine should be allowed to choose their own leaders and urged the Kiev authorities to release protest leaders who have been arrested.
"People in the east are talking about federalization. Kiev is talking, thank God, about decentralization. What's behind these words? It's necessary to sit at the negotiating table, try to understand what's being implied and find a solution," he said. "Order in the country can be established only through a dialogue, in the course of democratic procedures, rather than through the use of the armed forces."
Kiev is set to engage in its first direct talks with Moscow at a meeting with envoys from the U.S. and European Union in Geneva later Thursday.
The military operation in the east has gotten off to a stuttering start, with armored columns being stopped in their tracks by angry mobs of civilians, and militants hijacking military vehicles and driving off with them, with Russian flags flying overhead. Until the attack in Mariupol, the Ukrainian forces had avoided bloody clashes.
Write to Lukas I. Alpert at lukas.alpert@wsj.com
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