About 15,000 people came out to the central square of Kharkov to protest against the self-proclaimed authorities and demand to hold the referendum on federalisation. In Odessa at the building of the City Hall there were held meetings of supporters of federalisation and of united Ukraine in which, according to the UNIAN, the same number of 300 people took part. The Odessa people also protested against the would-be return of Eduard Gurvits, a member of the UDAR party, to the post of Mayor. The governor Taruta came to Gorlovka and had a meeting with residents of the town. At this meeting all the residents demanded the referendum and Taruta’s resignation. The people held banners with inscriptions like “Taruta, take your hands off of Donbass!” and “Referendum!”. In Mariupol after meetings for the referendum and against the appointment of the new governor of the region and the entry of Ukraine to the EU, about 1,000 pro-Russian activists headed to the prosecutor office. The protesters demanded a meeting with the prosecutor of the city and liberation of Dmitry Kuzmenko, the “People’s Mayor” elected at a meeting on 23 March. During the meetings the buildings of the City Hall and the prosecutor office were temporarily seized. The IAM department in the Donetsk region reported that since the beginning of March in the region there had been held about 200 actions in which more than 130,000 people took part. There had been opened 46 criminal proceedings against the protesters on ‘violations committed during the meetings’ on the following Articles of the Criminal Code: 294 (riots), 296 (hooliganism), 293 (group violation of public order), 341 (seizure of state or public buildings or constructions), 171 (obstructions to the work of journalists), 345 (violence against law enforcement officers) etc.

In Zaporozhye more than 5,000 people came out to a “March of polite Zaporozhye people”. They demanded to remove the Ukrainian government from power, to hold the referendum on the status of the Zaporozhye region, federalisation of Ukraine, direct elections of the governor and Russian as the other state language. In Dnepropetrovsk at the Opera House there was held a pro-Russian meeting. Several hundreds of people with red flags and symbols of the Russian Block and the Communist Party took part in it. The protesters called upon everyone to support the initiative to hold the referendum on the status of every region of Ukraine. They also protested against the mobilisation in Ukraine. Applauding the participants of the action burnt the EU flag. In Kharkov on the Freedom square pro-Russian protesters demanded the referendum on federalisation and the state status of Russian language. During the meeting there was a clash between them and 20 activists of Euromaidan (or the Right Sector, according to other sources) which resulted in several people injured and the IAM of Ukraine opening criminal proceedings. According to the police, in Kharkov about 3,000 people took part in mass actions on that day; the public order was being protected by almost 400 policemen. In Donetsk after another meeting its participants seized the building of the Donetsk RSA. In Lugansk about 1,000 protesters stormed the building of SSU.

The interim President of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov said in his TV appeal that the authorities of the country would carry out an “anti-terroristic operation” against people who had seized administrative buildings in Lugansk, Donetsk and Kharkov in arms. On the same day special forces of the SSU vacated the building of the Donetsk SSU from pro-Russian activists who had seized it the day before.

In Donetsk the Donetsk People’s Republic was proclaimed. In the building of the Donetsk RSA the Donetsk People’s Council consisting of people’s delegates published the Declaration and the Act of sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic. The Declaration of sovereignty of the Donetsk People’s Republic was read to residents of the city. The Centre of the Republic was established in the building of the Donetsk RSA above which the Russian flag was raised. According to some mass media, the Declaration of sovereignty was adopted by the deputies of the Regional Council; the other sources, though, denied this information and informed, referring to a video from the building of the Regional Council, that in the building there was a meeting of the “Republican People’s Council” whose structure and origin were unknown. This Council had already made several decisions one of which concerned holding the referendum on 11 May. The deputies stated that the date had been arranged with the Lugansk and Kharkov regions. In Lugansk pro-Russian activists blocked Sovetskaya St in front of the building of the Lugansk SSU with barricades made of construction waste, tires and barbed wire. The police of the city was alerted and the Road Patrol Service blocked the roads leading to the city centre. In the building of the Lugansk SSU seized the day before there was established the Joint Staff of the South-East Resistance. The activists demanded that the Ukrainian authorities liberate all political prisoners, including the leader of the Lugansk Guard Alexander Kharitonov and the deputy of the Regional Council Arsen Klinchaev, amnesty all policemen who had taken part in the events on Maidan and hold the referendum on self-determination of the Lugansk region. It was also announced that in the event of failure of these requirements by the authorities there would be created ‘the Parliament of the Lugansk Republic’. In Kharkov in Sumskaya St there were held two meetings: a pro-Russian one and one for Euromaidan. The pro-Russian protesters were standing near the building of the RSA; part of them seized the building again. An initiative group of the activists handed in an application to the Chairman of the Regional Council Sergey Chernov, in which it called on him to convene an extraordinary session of the Regional Council. Two central stations of the metro were closed. The activists held ‘a meeting of the Regional Community’ which impeached the deputies of the Kharkov Regional Council and made public the list of those who had enrolled to be ‘alternative deputies’ and intended to convene a session to fix a date for the referendum. These ‘alternative deputies’ took the oath on the stairs of the Kharkov RSA. According to the mass media, they ‘took on all powers of the state authorities’. During the session there was adopted a resolution on creating the sovereign ‘Kharkov People’s Republic’ which ‘would build relationships with other states according to the international law’. It was announced that the resolution would come into force after it was approved at the regional referendum. Besides. there was made public a decision ‘to address to the President of Ukraine Victor Yanukovich’ with the request to legitimise the meeting and adopted documents, and also to appeal to the government of the Russian Federation with the request to act as intermediaries and to ensure the peaceful conduct of the referendum in the Kharkov region. After that on the square clashes between pro-Russian protesters and supporters of Euromaidan started again; the police pushed the protesters out of the foyer and then from the entrance of the Kharkov RSA. Soldiers of the Kharkov unit of Berkut refused to use force against residents of the city who had seized the RSA. In Nikolaev a group of about 300 pro-Russian activists made an attempt to storm the Nikolaev RSA. The activists came up to the building and demanded that the police let them in. There were made two such attempts but by 22:30 the police managed to push the activists to the monument of Olshantsy Heroes. There the pro-Russian activists were attacked by representatives of the Right Sector who pulled down the tent camp of Antimaidan supporters situated at the monument. There were about 10 injured people from both sides. After the riots at night of 8 April the Ukrainian police arrested 23 people; according to the Regional Department of Health Care 15 persons were injured in clashes. 11 of them were taken to hospitals with traumas of varying severity; on the spot of the tent camp of separatists the police seized about 30 clubs, several guns and knives. In Dnepropetrovsk representatives of pro-Russian left forces, such as the People’s Will, the Russian Block and the Communist Party of Ukraine, gathered at the Dnepropetrovsk RSA intending to set an unlimited tent camp. The approach to the Regional Administration was blocked by the police and pro-Ukrainian activists. The Administration came up with a proposal to the left forces to take part in the public council of the RSA together with pro-Ukrainian organisations and promised to provide them with premises and access to the mass media. After relevant agreements had been signed the picket was dissolved.

The interim Internal Affairs Minister Arsen Avakov announced an anti-terroristic operation in Kharkov. Within the operation the city centre and the metro stations were closed. The enforcement forces (according to Avakov, the Vinnitsa unit of Jaguar) vacated the building of the Regional State Administration. According to the Ukrainian authorities, firearms weren’t used during the operation. 65 persons (Avakov reported about 70) were arrested; they were charged with organising riots. The majority of those arrested turned out to be residents of Kharkov and the Kharkov region; there were also residents of Zaporozhye and Donbass. On the same day protests in the city continued. The meeting at the building of the RSA resumed. In a street nearby to the RSA activists temporarily blocked a bus with students of the internal troops, tried to turn it over, threw sticks and stones at it; they smashed the windows in it and wrested shields from those sitting inside. As Nataly Zakharova, the Head of Public Relations Centre of the IAM City Department, reported, none of the student was hurt; they were taken to another bus and brought on duty to the Freedom square. Several dozens of activists made a failed attempt to seize the building of the RSA again. At the building there appeared some agitation tents where everyone willing could get leaflets and other materials in support of federalisation; there was also some audio equipment to let everyone willing to make a speech. There was organised collecting funds for activists. In the evening the meeting of federalisation supporters finished. The leaders of the Donetsk Republic took several decisions: the People’s government of the DPR was created and Sergey Taruta, appointed the governor of the Donetsk region by the government of Ukraine, was dismissed. Barricades around the building of the Donetsk RSA were fortified. In Lugansk public activists, together with parents and relatives of soldiers, came to the gates of both cantonments of local regiments of internal troops. The main demand of residents was to prevent using the law enforcement personnel in any military operations against peaceful protesters. The commandment assured the residents that soldiers were to stay in cantonments and weren’t to be sent anywhere except for routine escort service. In the morning the residents de-blocked the exits from the cantonments.

The DPR leader Denis Pushilin announced creating the “Donetsk People’s Army” under the command of Igor Kakidzyanov. In Kharkov about 100 people gathered at the building of the Kiev district court that was to consider the remand for the residents arrested by the policemen in the Kharkov RSA. The participants of the actions attached St George ribbons on their clothes and held banners with inscriptions ‘Let the innocent go!’, ‘No to repressions!’, ‘Freedom to the freedom fighters!’. The court prohibited to hold a pro-Russian meeting in the city on the pretext of ‘interests of the national security and public order’. In Zaporozhye the policemen, soldiers of the internal troops, Cossacks and activists of Maidan Self-Defence started to erect checkpoints to prevent ‘paid separatists’ from penetrating the city.

In Lugansk the Joint Staff of the Army of the South-East issued the ultimatum to the Regional Council, demanding to convene an extraordinary session within 10 hours at which the deputies were to take the following decisions: To proclaim the state sovereignty of the Lugansk People’s Republic; Within 10 days to hold the referendum with two questions: Do you support the accession of the Lugansk People’s Republic to the Russian Federation? Do you support the accession of the Lugansk People’s Republic to Ukraine? The Staff of the Army of the South-East also took a decision that the weapons would be given up only to those authorities that would be elected by citizens of the Lugansk region at the referendum.

The Donetsk Republic took under its control administrative buildings in Artyomovsk, Druzhkovka, Red Liman, Kramatorsk, Konstantinovka and other towns of the region. In Slavyansk units of anti-government forces seized the buildings of the City Administration and the police and raised Russian flags above them. The attackers were armed with light arms, were wearing camouflage and moving by minibuses. After the seizure of the local police station at 9 am a unit of 20 people gave the weapons around to participants of a meeting for federalisation of Ukraine. The Ukrainian flag was taken away from the building and the Russian flag was raised. The Donetsk policemen, including the Berkut, put on St George ribbons and announced their refusal to obey their commandment. Despite the ban of the Ukrainian authorities on holding any actions connected to the international marathon in Kharkov, in the city there were held two meetings, the one of federalisation supporters and the other of federalisation opponents.

The Council of National Security and Defence of Ukraine took a decision to start an anti-terroristic operation (ATO) involving the Military Forces of Ukraine in the Donetsk as well as in the Kharkov and Lugansk regions. The interim President of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov issued an ultimatum to the protesters there demanding to vacate the seized administrative buildings by 9 am on 14 April and threatening them with the military operation. The ultimatum was turned down.

There were reports about the Donetsk Republic’s forces seizing the buildings of the RSA in Enakievo and taking under their control towns of Snezhnoye and Artyomovsk in Artyomovsk region. The DPR jurisdiction was recognised in Makeevka and Mariupol where protesters, with support of the rebels and inaction of the local police, seized the buildings of the City Administrations and raised the flags of the DPR. The Ukrainian special forces Alpha took part in storming Slavyansk; the attack was repelled. The clash took place 8 km away from Slavyansk, in the vicinities of the township of Semyonovka. The attack resulted in the death of Gennady Bilichenko, an officer of the Alpha, and a militiaman. The commander of the Self-Defence battalion Vyacheslav Ponomaryov was proclaimed the commandant of the town. In Dnepropetrovsk, after the administrative buildings had been seized in Slavyansk, “the Staff of National Defence” of the Dnepropetrovsk region accelerated erecting checkpoints to control those coming to the region. In Odessa, despite the ban on holding mass meetings in the city, on Kulikovo Pole there took place a traditional meeting of supporters of federalisation of Ukraine. As soon as participants of the meeting started to gather on the square a bailiff handed the organisers a court order prohibiting any meetings at the weekend. The city authorities announced this ban due to the mournings - Odessa was saying goodbye to Boris Litvack, a Hero of Ukraine who had created a free rehabilitation centre for disabled children, whose funeral took place on that day. The protesters turned down this decision, pointing out that the Odessa supporters of Euromaidan had seamlessly gathered for their mass meetings on 12 and 13 April. They adopted the following resolution right at the meeting: ‘… according to the Constitution, the people is a bearer of power. Thereby the people has taken a decision to invalidate the ban on holding a meeting’. Several thousands of participants with Soviet, Ukrainian, Russian, Belorussian and other flags started their meeting with a minute of silence in memory of Boris Litvack. The slogans of the meeting were ‘Referendum!’, ‘Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, together we are the Holy Rus!’, ‘Donbass, Lugansk, we are with you!’ and ‘Fascism won’t pass!’. In Kharkov pro-Russian activists with clubs attacked Euromaidan supporters at the Shevchenko monument. After the end of the meeting of supporters of the new Ukrainian authorities several hundreds of young men attacked the participants of the meeting from different sides. As a result, more than 5 people got injured. After that pro-Russian protesters seized the building of the Kharkov City Council but several hours later they were pushed out of there by the police; one policeman was moderately injured. In Zaporozhye there were held two meetings: one of supporters of the acting authorities, the other of their opponents. About 2 pm Maidan supporters with clubs and the Right Sector symbols headed to the Alley of Glory where the meeting of Antimaidan supporters was being held. There were some clashes, the pro-Russian protesters were surrounded and for 6 hours they were being thrown food and firecrackers at; later they were made to pass through a “corridor of shame” and brought to a police station.

Alexander Turchinov signed a decree about carrying out the ATO in the East of Ukraine.

The DPR took Gorlovka, Khartsyzk, Zhdanovka and Kirovskoye under its control. Pro-Russian activists held a meeting at the building of the Lugansk RSA. Alexey Chmulenko, a member of the Coordination Council of the Lugansk region, passed the governor of the region the protesters’ demands: to recognise illegitimacy of the new Ukrainian authorities, to recognise the “People’s movement” legitimate and to liberate the arrested pro-Russian activists. The deadline of the ultimatum was set for 16 April. According to the mass media, about 100 rebels stayed in the SSU. In Slavyansk the rebels seized the local airfield which was taken back by the Ukrainian military a day later. 4 rebels were reported dead. At night from 14 to 15 April in Slavyansk, at a checkpoint from the side of Andreevka there was a firefight in which the rebels and, presumed by them, members of the Right Sector took part. In Dnepropetrovsk the “Staff of National Defence” started forming the battalion Dnieper whose creation aimed at ‘preventing Crimean-Donetsk scenario in the Dnepropetrovsk region’. The battalion was formed out of volunteers, residents of the Dnepropetrovsk region, having combat experience and practice of serving in the Military Forces and law enforcement agencies; experienced officers who had fought in Afghanistan were appointed its commanders. The authorities of the Dnepropetrovsk region headed by the businessman Igor Kolomoysky offered a financial reward for returning weapons, passing “green men” - mercenaries ($10,000) to the authorities and vacating administrative buildings followed by passing them to a local administration. This offer was made public by Boris Filatov, the deputy Head of the Dnepropetrovsk RSA and a businessman.

The Ukrainian military returned the airfield in the vicinities of Slavyansk and Kramatorsk under their control.

Alexander Turchinov announced the beginning of the ATO in the Donetsk region.

The press service of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced opening criminal proceedings against Anatoly Vizir, an ex-Chairman of the Court of Appeal, calling himself the President of South-Eastern Ukraine.

Novoazovsk raised the DPR flag. However, the DPR control over a territory was considered as only that over administrative buildings while local military units mostly remained subordinate to the authorities of Ukraine. Thus, in Gorlovka the “diarchy” remained till 13 May and administrative buildings in Artyomovsk were re-seized. The situation in Mariupol deteriorated after a failed attempt to storm the inner troops unit N3057 when the rebels lost 3 persons dead and 63 captured. Ukrainian military vehicles entered Kramatorsk where 6 ACVs, together with their crews, passed over to the side of the rebels of Donbass and went to Slavyansk under Russian flags.

Alexander Turchinov and Arseny Yatsenyuk presented a memorandum on settling the situation in the Eastern regions. The memorandum provided for the right of local authorities to give Russian and other languages ​​official status on a par with Ukrainian and the exchange of regional and district state administrations by councils and executive committees elected directly. In Ukraine there were introduced restrictions on entry to the country for citizens of Russia. The ban on entry was introduced temporarily and concerned male Russians and Crimeans aged 16 to 60 years.

Representatives of the rebels raised the DPR flag in the Donetsk airport. In Slavyansk during a counter-attack 10 rebels seized the TV tower on the hill Karachun and resumed Russian TV channels broadcasting. The Ukrainian special services came to the hill Karachun, together with the TV tower personnel blocked Russian channels again and left, after which the rebels re-seized the tower. The political parties Batkivschyna, UDAR and Svoboda were banned in the city.

In Lugansk at the People’s assembly Valery Bolotov was elected the People’s governor of the region. In Kharkov Konstantin Dolgov, a journalist, was arrested. In Odessa the was held a mass pro-Russian meeting the participants of which voted for creating Odessa People’s Republic of Novorossia (OPR). At 2:20 am at a checkpoint in the township of Bylbasovka at the western entry to Slavyansk there was a firefight. Three persons of those staying at the checkpoint were killed; two of them were local residents. The attackers came in 4 white Jeeps with Dnepropetrovsk number plates. On one of the cars there was placed a machine-gun. The Slavyansk self-defence forces captured two out of four cars in which there was found insignia of the Right Sector, maps based on aerial photographs and a large amount of weapons including those not operated by the Ukrainian army. The mayor of Slavyansk Vyacheslav Ponomaryov announced his refusal to negotiate with the Ukrainian authorities and absence of Russian military in the town. He also said that the People’s militia of Slavyansk had no relation to the agreements reached at the negotiations in Geneva. In the vicinities of Slavyansk, in the river, the rebels found two bodies with the bellies cup open and, supposedly, traces of tortures. One of the bodies was later identified as Vladimir Rybak, a deputy of the Gorlovka Town Council and a member of the Batkivschyna party, who had disappeared shortly before. This deputy had tried to enter the Town Council and take away the DPR flag but at the entrance he had had a conflict with representatives of the self-defence. The other body was of Yury Popravko, a 19-year-old student from Kiev. In Slavyansk a curfew was introduced from midnight to 6 am as well as a ban on alcohol sale from 10 pm to 10 am. The ban would be valid for the period of unrest.

On the site of the Supreme Rada there was posted a statement of the interim President of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov in which he demanded to restore counter-terrorism measures in the East of the country. In his opinion, ‘the terrorists have taken hostages the entire Donetsk region but, with murders and tortures, have finally crossed the red line’.

The President of the RF Vladimir Putin warned that using the army against the people by the Ukrainian authorities would have consequences. The Russian Army started military exercises at the border with Ukraine, coming to a distance of visual contact with Ukrainian border guards. As a result, the commandment of the army of Ukraine suspended the operation. The Ukrainian authorities decided to temporarily abandon the idea of storming Slavyansk and introduce the total blockade in order to prevent the local self-defence forces from receiving reinforcements. The Ukrainian agency censor.net announced that it were only the special unit Omega and the National Guard units that had taken part in the attack on Slavyansk whereas the special unit Alpha had refused to participate in storming.

During the fighting on the outskirts of Slavyansk and near the village of Krestische the government troops temporarily seized three checkpoints of the rebels. In particular, a Ukrainian APC shot a checkpoint of the rebels on the road from Slavyansk to Svyatogorsk. The latter suffered losses in killed and injured. Rebels from Red Liman came to help the rebels from Slavyansk and by noon the government troops retreated from the town. During a counter-attack at the airfield in Kramatorsk there was a shelling that resulted in destruction of a Mi-8 helicopter and a AN-2 plane of the MFU; the commander of the helicopter's crew was injured and a building on the airfield was damaged. At an approach to Slavyansk members of the People’s self-defence stopped a bus with 8 military observers from Europe and 5 officers of the General Staff of Ukraine. The officers were suspected of espionage. Later representatives of the rebels announced that they were ready to exchange detained European military for their arrested activists. Julia Timoshenko arrived in Lugansk to negotiate with those who had seized the building of the SSU. Sergey Kravchenko, the Mayor of the city, also negotiated with pro-Russian activists.

The Donetsk regional state TV company was taken under control of the DPR supporters. Extra equipment was brought into the building of the company to broadcast the DPR TV. In Kharkov before a football match between football clubs the Dnieper from Dnepropetrovsk and the Metallist from Kharkov the ultras fans, together with radicals of the Right Sector, organised a march ‘For united Ukraine’ in which at least 5,000 people took part and which resulted in clashes with pro-Russian activists. 8 people were injured and taken to hospital, 6 more people received medical help on the spot.

In Lugansk there was proclaimed the Lugansk People’s Republic. The first action of the rebels was seizing the building of the SSU and putting pressure on the local RSA in order to submit it to the LPR. Not having managed to make the local authorities refuse to obey the Kiev junta 2,000-2,500 federalisation supporters seized the building of the RSA and the prosecutor office without any resistance from the police. The policemen were provided with a “live” corridor and they willingly left the building seized by the activists. Then they put on St George ribbons and passed over to the side of the rebels. After negotiations with the activists the Head of the Regional Department of the IAM wrote a report of resignation. The flag of Russia was raised above the building of the RSA. In Donetsk the Right Sector and the football ultras tried to organise a rally similar to the march ‘For united Ukraine’ carried out in Kharkov the day before. After a meeting about 1,000 participants marched in a column from the Olympic stadium to the shopping centre Donetsk-City with flags of Ukraine and the Right Sector, firers and slogans ‘Glory to the nation, death to enemies!’ but were dispersed by the DPR supporters on their way. During clashes 14 people from both sides were injured, 4 of them were taken to hospital.

About 30 opponents of the official authorities entered the building of the Town Council of Alchevsk while about 150-200 of those supporting them stayed outside. The flag of Ukraine was taken away from the building and a couple of hours later the flag of the RF was raised there, near the flag of the town that was left untouched. The members of the Town Council stayed at their working places and continued to work.

The interim President of Ukraine Alexander Turchinov admitted that the Ukrainian authorities had lost control over Donetsk and a part of the Donetsk region.