U.S. Sees Moscow Hand in Ukraine Unrest, Berlin Warns of 'High-Risk' Situation

Attacks on police and security service buildings in eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian gunmen bore "tell-tale signs of Moscow's involvement," the U.S. envoy to the United Nations said Sunday.

Speaking on ABC television's "This Week" program, Ambassador Samantha Power dismissed suggestions that the attacks, which have triggered gun battles with Ukrainian special forces, were the work of grass-roots militia groups.

"It's professional, coordinated. Nothing grassroots about it," Power said.

"The forces are doing in each of the six or seven cities they have been active in exactly the same thing. So, certainly, it bears the tell-tale signs of Moscow's involvement."

At least two people were killed and nine wounded in fighting Sunday that has threatened to scupper the first international talks on the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.

The clashes across the ex-Soviet state's separatist eastern rust belt broke out a day after masked gunmen stormed a series of police and security service buildings in coordinated raids that Kiev blamed on the "provocative activities of Russian special services."

It was the latest development in a crisis that has escalated since Western-backed leaders rose to power in February on the back of bloody protests against the old regime's decision to reject an alliance with the European Union and look for future assistance from the Kremlin.

Later on Sunday, Germany's foreign minister described as "high-risk" the situation in east Ukraine.

Speaking on German TV, Frank-Walter Steinmeier also called on Moscow to send a clear sign of de-escalation which, he said, included pulling back troops massed along Ukraine's border.

The minister, who was interviewed from China where he's on a visit, said that Russia should offer "a word to distance itself" from what is happening in some east Ukrainian towns.

The situation in Ukraine is "not only explosive. It is high-risk", he told the "Bericht aus Berlin" show to be aired on Germany's ARD TV channel.

Steinmeier also stressed the need for U.S.-EU mediated talks between Ukraine and Russia planned in Geneva on Thursday to go ahead, despite a warning by his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov.

"The situation is so tense that those who have responsibility in East and West must now come together to prevent worse," Steinmeier said.

"I hope that this understanding holds sway also in Moscow."

But he warned against unrealistic expectations from this first meeting. "That it has come about is a small breakthrough," he said.

He added that he hoped the talks would provide a working plan for joint efforts by the four parties to prevent a worsening of the crisis and contribute to a de-escalation, as well as to helping to stabilize Ukraine economically and politically.