kim vannel has our story. >> reporter: the interior ministers ultimatum giving protesters 48 hours toeave state buildings in eastern ukraine either by anything associate or by force is putting the pressure on the people here in donetsk. overnight police arrived in a plus, about 20 or so unarmed and protesters tell us those police had come to defect. the regional governor is here speaking to both sides, and we have seen a oligarch here in ukraine, the richest man in the country is in town as well. the negotiations are also ongoi ongoi ongoing -- in lieu hands k. those protesters tell us that they are still armed and in control of that building. so i think now with this ultimatum it will really be a question of what kind of a deal both sides can come to, both protesters and police obviously very keen to avoid any bloodshed. >> we want to go now to phil ittner who is in london, and phil when you were on the ground in kiev you were among the first to report that russia has been behind all of the protests we are seeing, but russia is now blaming the us. so what should we make of this lates

kim vannel is there with the latest. >> reporter: these helicopters behind me are just taking off.believe they may be on the to [ inaudible ] about 70 kilometers there. there an operation is under way -- what they call an anti terrorism operation. there we're told that pro-russian groups are in control of the airfields, and that these military personnel are trying to regain control of that airfield. these choppers have been loaded up in the past half hour. at least one of them is weaponized, and you can see -- just closing the doors and very literally taking off right now. and the third one just arriving. we will be heading to the area to bring you the latest as it happens. obviously a developing situation, very fluid, and the anti-terrorism operation continues. >> russia's foreign minister sergei lavrov speaking out about the decision to send the troops in to the east. warning military deployments would derail the talks planned in geneva. >> translator: we are sure the attempt to resolve the situation through force is unacceptable, and the key to settling the crisis is to begin wo