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Protesters rallying in support of federalization said one their activist and two members of the ultra-nationalist Right Sector group were killed in the operation in east Ukraine's town of Slavyansk on Sunday. A total of three people have been killed: two from the so-called Right Sector and one on our side, Nikolai Solntsev, an activist of the protest movement, told, RIA reports.

Two other pro-federalization protesters were injured, he said adding that protesters in neighboring Donetsk were preparing to transport the injured people from Slavyansk to the local hospitals.

Earlier reports said some 150 armed men from the radical Right Sector movement had arrived in Slavyansk to participate in the special operation against pro-federalization protesters.

Ukraine's acting Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said the operation launched by the country's security forces Sunday against protesters in the east Ukrainian town of Slavyansk has led to the deaths and injuries on "both sides."

Avakov said on his Facebook page one officer of the Security Service (SBU) was killed and five others, including the head of the SBU anti-terrorist center, were injured in the operation. He also said there were victims among the pro-federalization protesters, without giving further details. Media reports said at least one civilian was killed, RIA reports.

An extra meeting of Ukraine's National Security Council has finished in Ukraine's capital Kiev. The meeting was presided by Ukraine's Acting President Alexander Turchinov and lasted about three hours. Russian ITAR-TASS news agency, with a reference to the Ukrainian parliament's press service, says that the meeting's participants discussed ways to normalize the situation in Ukraine's east. The press service does not reveal any further details or the results of the discussion.

According to unofficial information, heads of Ukraine's eastern regions, which are now gripped with protests, took part in the meeting. Besides, several media sources say that the meeting's participants discussed the possibility of imposing a state of emergency in the country's east.

During the meeting, the building of the Ministry of Defense, where it took place, was picketed by several dozen activists, who were demanding decisive measures to solve the problem of unrest in the country's east. They also said that the Security Council should have gathered for such a meeting already several weeks ago.

The law enforcement units involved in a counter-protest operation in the eastern Ukrainian town of Slavyansk are from western Ukraine, Russia's RIA Novosti news agency reports quoting a Ukrainian law enforcement official, who spoke on conditions of anonymity.

On Sunday morning, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov wrote on his Facebook page that an operation against federalization supporters in Slavyansk was being launched and all the elements of the country's law enforcement bodies were taking part in it.

"The units storming Slavyansk, absolutely all of them, are from western Ukraine," the source said.

The new Ukrainian authorities have reportedly launched counter-protest operations in Slavyansk, the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, and two other cities to knock federalization supporters out of the administrative buildings they seized the day before.

Speaking on Monday morning, Arsen Avakov, who was appointed the country's Interior Ministry after the late February coup in Kiev, wrote on his Facebook page that forces of the Interior Ministry and the Ukrainian National Security Council were taking part in an anti-protest operations, which, he claims, was launched way Slavyansk and two other cities swept by pro-federalization protests.

A total of two combat helicopters are patrolling the airspace over the city of Slavyansk in the east-Ukrainian Donetsk region, an Itar-Tass reporter said in an eyewitness account from the place where, according to a notice posted on Facebook by Ukraine's acting interim Interior Minister Arsel Avakov, an anti-riot operation had begun to suppress the protests, the participants in which demanded federalization of the country.

Once in every five minutes, a helicopter would appear in the sky over. Block posts had been put up on the streets.

In the meantime, an action of protest continued near the building of the city police department that was seized by the protesters the other day. Barricades had been put up there and people several armed people in fatigues were guarding them.

Spokesperson for the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has issued a statement voicing deep concern over the continuing deterioration of tensions in the eastern regions of Ukrainian where thousands of protesters demanding federalization of the country have been seizing buildings of law enforcement agencies. "The Secretary-General is deeply concerned about the deteriorating situation in Eastern Ukraine and the growing potential for violent clashes," the statement says.

"The Secretary-General stresses that further disturbances will not serve the interests of any side. He therefore appeals to all sides to work towards calming the situation, adhere to the rule of law and exercise maximum restraint."

The statement says that Ban Ki-moon calls again for urgent and constructive dialogue to deescalate the situation and address all differences.

"The United Nations stands ready to continue to support a peaceful resolution to the current crisis facing Ukraine," the document says.