Ukraine is drawing up plans to evacuate all of its military personnel and their families and was prepared to relocate as many as 25,000 of them to mainland Ukraine.  It’s a clear sign that Kiev has accepted the reality that Russia has taken the Crimean peninsula and will keep it.

Russian forces and pro-Russian militias have surrounded thousands of Ukrainian military personnel for more than two weeks, essentially stranding the Ukrainians on their own bases.  Kiev is asking the United Nations for some help getting its forces out.

“The Ukrainian government will immediately appeal to the United Nations to recognize Crimea as a demilitarized zone and take necessary measures for Russian forces to leave Crimea and prepare conditions for re-deployment of Ukrainian forces,” said security chief Andriy Parubiy.

Shortly after that announcement, Russia militias – wearing helmets, flak jackets and uniforms with no identifying insignia – took control of a second Ukrainian base in Crimea. 

“Russian troops came and asked us to leave the base, which we did,” said Major Eduard Kusnarenko, “We will try again tomorrow to return to our post.” 

This time around, no one was killed.  But a day earlier, shots were fired as Russians took their first Ukrainian military installation, leaving at least one Ukrainian soldier dead.