Tension continued mounting on yesterday as militants held on to State buildings in the east.

Pro-Russian militants yesterday, April 14, 2014, continued to occupy government buildings in eastern Ukraine, thereby ignoring a deadline to leave or face eviction by Ukrainian forces, the BBC said. Ukraine's Interim President, Olexander Turchynov, earlier promised military action if government buildings were not freed by 9 am local time yesterday.

According to the Alliance News agency, the activists instead vowed to continue occupying State institutions in eastern Ukraine. Alexei Chmulenko, a spokesman for the protesters in the Luhansk region, told the Russian Interfax news agency that nobody was prepared to give up, adding that the number of protesters was growing. President Turchynov however indicated his readiness to organise a referendum on the future of the country, one of the key demands of the dissidents.

Meanwhile, an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council on April 13, 2014 failed to reach any consensus, with both the US and Russian envoys trading accusations over the cause of the crisis. It was the tenth time the Security Council was convened to discuss the Ukraine crisis. Russia’s Ambassador to the UN, Vitaliy Churkin, called on the government in Kiev to "start a genuine dialogue" with the protesters and avoid the use of force.

European Union Foreign Ministers were to meet yesterday to discuss the issue. They were also due to endorse already promised economic support for Ukraine and debate how to respond to a Russian warning of possible gas supply cuts because of a dispute between Moscow and Kiev over energy debts. Yesterday’s meeting came ahead of highly anticipated talks on the crisis between Russia, Ukraine, the US and the EU in Geneva, Switzerland on April 17, 2014.