According to reports, over 40 people have died in less than a week in the southern port city of Odessa, where clashes culminated in a deadly inferno last Friday. Most of those killed were pro-Russian fighters and activists, the reports say.
Concerned that Odessa could be the next region to fall to pro-Russia forces, the Kiev government has launched a military offensive to quell a pro-Russian insurgency in the east.
Kiev authorities announced they had dismissed the acting governor in Odessa and replaced him with member of parliament, Ihor Palytsya. Odessa's police chief was also removed over the weekend, according to reports.
