Kiev on Thursday charged that Russian troops were laying anti-personnel mines in Ukraine and had grabbed a Ukrainian stockpile of landmines used for training.

Ukraine "is strongly concerned about the use of anti-personnel mines by the Russian Armed Forces in several parts of the Ukrainian territory," a Ukrainian delegation said at a meeting on landmines in Geneva.

Ukraine's new Western-backed leaders on Thursday blamed Russian agents and the ousted pro-Kremlin president for organizing two days of carnage in Kiev that killed nearly 90 supporters of closer EU ties.

The explosive allegation were leveled only moments after Russia lashed out at NATO for building up the defenses of ex-Soviet nations and brandished the threat of further hikes in the price Ukraine must pay for gas after ousting its Kremlin-backed leaders.

Ukraine's defense minister said Sunday that Russia had agreed to temporarily lift its blockade of Ukraine's military bases in Crimea in order to ease tensions surrounding the peninsula's secession referendum, as Moscow said it would respect the “choice” of the flashpoint region's residents.

"Agreements have already been reached between our commanders... on there being no attempts to blockade our military installations until March 21," Interfax quoted Defense Minister Igor Tenyukh as saying.

Ukraine Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk will meet EU leaders Thursday ahead of an emergency summit the same day on the crisis in his country, EU President Herman Van Rompuy said.

EU leaders "will discuss situation in Ukraine with PM Yatsenyuk in Brussels Thursday prior to extraordinary summit," Van Rompuy said in a Tweeted message Tuesday.

Crisis-hit Ukraine's central bank on Friday announced it was imposing a limit of around a 1,000 euros on daily bank withdrawals as the national currency plunges to record lows.

The bank said it was slapping a limit of 15,000 on withdrawals (1,095 euros, 1,400 dollars). The hryvna has plunged nearly 20 percent to record lows since the start of the year as tensions soared between the new pro-West government in Kiev and old master Moscow following the ousting of the country's pro-Russia president.

Russia had little option other than to offer sanctuary to deposed Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych, even if there is little love lost between him and President Vladimir Putin, analysts said Thursday.

Yanukovych is now widely believed to be in Russia after he released a statement saying he had asked Moscow to ensure his security and sources in the country said his wish had been satisfied on "Russian territory."

Anxious Western powers voiced fear over the growing Crimea crisis Thursday, warning Russia not to escalate tensions and telling pro-Moscow separatists they were playing a "dangerous game."

After dozens of pro-Russian gunmen seized government buildings in the volatile peninsula -- raising fears of a full-blown regional conflict -- NATO leader Anders Fogh Rasmussen tweeted his concern and pleaded with Moscow "not to take any action that can escalate tension or create misunderstanding."

Ukraine's new pro-Western leaders on Wednesday disbanded the country's feared riot police as they sought to win confidence from the splintered and economically ravaged nation in their efforts to forge a unity government.

The interim authorities are grappling the with the dual threats of separatism and a looming debt default as they try to piece the ex-Soviet nation back together following the weekend ouster of pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych.

Protesters in Ukraine seized control of the capital Kiev and hailed freed opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko in a historic turn of events Saturday, but marginalized President Viktor Yanukovych defiantly declared he still wielded power.

The situation in the ex-Soviet nation -- deeply divided between aspirations towards the European Union and loyalty to Russia -- was still fluid and uncertainty reigned over whether the opposition had definitively triumphed over Yanukovych on a day of high drama exactly three months into the country's crisis.

Poland's foreign minister said Friday he had received signals in Kiev that the Ukrainian president was prepared to use force should the opposition have rejected an EU brokered roadmap to end a bloody crisis.

"We were getting signals that in case the agreement fails, President (Viktor) Yanukovych was preparing to use Interior Ministry forces," Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told reporters in Warsaw Friday evening after returning from Kiev.