Under the attentive eye of Russian state television, several hundred pro-Russian demonstrators in the city of Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, declared on April 7 that they were forming an independent republic and urged President Vladimir V. Putin to send troops to the region as a peacekeeping force, even though there was no imminent threat to peace.
New York Times: In east Ukraine, protesters seek Russian troops
Pro-Russian activists in Donetsk.
