and russia. >> reporter: keev's counteroffensive in eastern ukraine stalled just as it start start. militants, waving the russian flag, protesters blocked a column of ukrainian armored vehicles rolling into the city. ukraine's defense ministry forced to admit the vehicles had been seized russian's foreign minister calls the ukrainian's military attempted crackdown illegal. >> translator: we'll ease the situation. we will make it so that the government in kiev views with respect the opinions and commands of ukrainian citizens in the southeast. >> reporter: it's been warned ukraine is on the brink of civil war. the u.s. continues to place the blame for the instability firmly on moscow. >> any destabilization that's going on inside ukraine right now is a direct result of russian action there, so it's ironic to me they seem concerned