Pro-Russian Mob Seizes Eastern Ukraine Police Station, Captured On Video

Footage captured by Vice News on Monday appears to show the violent and chaotic seizure of a police station by pro-Russian activists in eastern Ukraine.

In the video, reporter Simon Ostrovsy watches chaos unfold in the Ukrainian town of Horlivka. A protester attempting to plant a Russian flag atop the station becomes involved in a scuffle with authorities and subsequently falls, or is pushed, to the ground below. The event causes tensions to boil over, as the already irate crowd storms the building en masse while police try to push them back with shields and tear gas. Between varying scenes of violence and tension we see the protesters eventually overtake the building, before brutally beating the policeman they blame for sparking the incident into a nearby ambulance.

The video is shot in true Vice-style, but provides a vivid look at the scene on the ground in Ukraine's east, where separatist protesters backed or led by heavily armed masked militiamen have been engaging in similar seizures of government buildings. Their actions have sparked a military response from the Ukrainian government in Kiev to take back control in the region, one that has so far been met with difficulties and Russian threats.