Armed men seized the city police station in Krasny Lyman in eastern Ukraine's Donets Basin coal-mining area, a Ukrainian news Web site said on Saturday, citing witnesses.

About 20 armed men raided the police station building, which had been surrounded by members of Afghan war veteran and Cossack organizations, according to Russian-language Web site Novosti Donbassa (News of Donbass), novosti.dn.ua.

A member of Ukraine's parliament, Oleksandr Bryhynets, said on Facebook: "Separatists have seized the police building in Krasny Lyman. There are negotiations with them underway."

No other details were known.

In Sloviansk, another city in Donetsk region, the police station and the building of the local branch of the Security Service were captured on Saturday morning by armed men styling themselves as members of "the people's militia of the Donets Basin."