Ukraine’s parliament approved emergency funding of Hr 6.7 billion (more than $600 million) for military spending and agreed to mobilize military and National Guard units today — a significant amount in a national budget that doesn’t exceed $50 billion a year.

Andriy Parubiy, the Batkivshchyna party member who now heads Ukraine’s Security and Defense Council, blamed overthrown President Viktor Yanukovych for doing “everything to destroy the Ukrainian army. We need to put all operating units on alert.”