“Acting president” of Ukraine Oleksandr Turchynov warned yesterday that anyone engaging in “separatist activities” in the country would be punished.

Mr Turchynov said he would meet security chiefs following declarations from institutions in the country’s east that they would not recognise the right-wing putsch in Kiev.

MPs in the rump parliament voted to urge the International Criminal Court in The Hague to prosecute overthrown President Viktor Yanukovych and top officials for deaths during his government’s bid to suppress violent protests in the capital last week.

But they postponed the formation of a new government as violence continued unabated — with Mr Yanukovych’s chief of staff Andriy Klyuyev being hospitalised following gunshot wounds.

Coup leaders held fevered talks on loans with Western officials since Ukraine now faces defaulting on its debts, with Russia unlikely to continue aid to a pro-EU regime propped up by fascist gunmen.

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton urged the new authorities to work out a “reform” programme so the free-market bloc could offer financial aid.

The protests which have taken the capital and driven Mr Yanukovych into hiding first erupted when he rejected stronger ties with the EU to avoid such a programme, which is thought likely to be devastating for Ukraine’s manufacturing sector.

Opposition leader and ex-boxing champion Vitali Klitschko has announced he will run for president, while ex-premier Yulia Tymoshenko is also expected to make a bid for power in elections Kiev wants to hold on May 25.

But thousands continued to rally against the coup in Kharkiv and other cities in the east including Sevastopol, where construction worker Vyacheslav Tokarev told reporters that “bandits have come to power.

“I’m ready to take up arms to fight the fascists who have seized power in Kiev,” he said.

While Western officials cosied up to the new authorities Russian MP Leonid Slutsky visited Crimean capital Simferopol to announce to crowds that Russia would not “stand aside” if its “compatriots” were in danger.

In Kharkiv regional administration leader Mykhaylo Dobkin warned that “laws are being adopted that threaten all those who do not accept fascism and nazism” and announced he would also stand for the Ukrainian presidency.