Ukraine's coup-installed president Oleksandr Turchynov declared today that police and security forces were “helpless” to quell unrest in eastern regions bordering Russia.

He said that all his government could do was try to prevent the agitation from spreading to other territories.

“I will be frank. Today, security forces are unable to quickly take the situation in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions under control,” Mr Turchynov told a meeting with regional governors.

“The security bodies are unable to carry out their duties of protecting citizens. They are helpless in those matters. Moreover, some of those units are either helping or co-operating with terrorist organisations.”

The president instructed the governors to try to prevent the threat from spreading to more central and southern regions.

But Mr Turchynov also warned that the Ukrainian army was on full alert due to the “threat of a Russian invasion.”

He said: “I am going back to the real threat that Russia would unleash a continental war against Ukraine. Our armed forces have been put on full alert.”

And he called on the audience to speed up the creation of regional militias loyal to Kiev, stressing: “We must have the capability to move those units fast to support other regions against such a threat.”

Just hours before the president’s speech, pro-Russian gunmen seized more administrative buildings in eastern Ukraine. 

Insurgents wielding automatic weapons took control of the city council building in Horlivka, near Donetsk, and raised a separatist flag above it. 

They also commandeered a police station in the city, adding to another police building that they had controlled for several weeks.

Rebels now control buildings in about a dozen cities in eastern Ukraine, demanding broader regional rights as well as greater ties to or outright annexation by Russia. 

The militiamen are holding some activists and journalists hostage, including a group of observers from the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

In Lugansk, one of the largest cities in eastern Ukraine, gunmen in camouflage uniforms maintained control of several government offices they seized Tuesday.