Ukraine is vowing to force pro-Russian protesters out of government buildings in the restive east if they don’t clear out on their own before 11 April.  Interior minister Arsen Avakov said Kiev is seeking a political solution, but the situation would “be resolved in 48 hours” either way.

Regional politicians – who were associated with the ousted, Moscow-friendly “Party of Regions” government of Viktor Yanukovych – scrambled to find a resolution.  They sympathize with the protesters but oppose the partitioning of Ukraine. 

Andrei Shishatsky, the former governor who was fired after Yanukovych fled the country in February, said firmly at a news conference that the eastern region of “Donbass will be part of a unified, independent Ukraine.”

Without the backing of the pro-Moscow Party of Regions, the 56 protesters occupying buildings in Donbass and in Luhansk are left with little public backing.  And it’s not completely clear if they’re Ukrainian. 

US Secretary of State John Kerry insists accuses Russian agents and Special Forces of stoking separatist unrest in eastern Ukraine to create “a contrived pretext for military intervention just as we saw in Crimea.”