Tensions are rising in the east, as pro-Russia activists continue a stand-off with Ukraine's new government
A gun battle has erupted in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk, the acting interior minister says.
Arsen Avakov said it began when unidentified gunmen tried to storm local administration buildings and police fired back.
Several other official buildings were reported to have been seized in eastern Ukraine on Saturday.
The confrontations come amid rising tension between the new government and pro-Russia protesters.
Earlier, gunmen occupied a police station and a security services building in the town of Sloviansk. Official buildings in Druzhkovka were also reported to have been taken over.
A Donetsk regional police chief also quit after pro-Russia crowds marched on a police station demanding his resignation.
Eastern Ukraine has a large Russian-speaking population and has seen a series of protests since the ousting of pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych in February.
The new government in Kiev accuses Moscow of orchestrating the unrest in eastern Ukraine. But Russia denies responsibility.
Repelled
Protesters in largely Russian-speaking Donetsk, 130km (80 miles) from Sloviansk, have been occupying government buildings for days and demanding a referendum on becoming part of Russia.
Protesters have held the administration building in the regional centre Donetsk since last Sunday
A police station in Sloviansk was taken over on Saturday by unidentified gunmen
Checkpoints have been set up in Sloviansk
Trouble continued in several towns and cities on Saturday despite the Kiev government setting a deadline of Friday for all occupations to end.
"Kramatorsk. An attack is under way. Unknown persons fired shots at the district police department. The police are firing shots in response. A shootout is under way," Mr Avakov wrote on his Facebook page late on Saturday.
He also reported that an attack on police buildings in Krasny Liman late in the day had been repelled. The gunmen there had been equipped with Russian-made Kalashnikov assault rifles, he added.
There were no reports of casualties in Kramatorsk or Krasny Liman and Mr Avakov's comments could not be independently verified.
Earlier, in the town of Sloviansk, dozens of unidentified armed men in camouflage uniform seized the police station and security service premises.
There are dozens of unidentified gunmen outside Sloviansk police station, the BBC's David Stern reports
The aim of the attack at the police station - according to the Interior Ministry - was to seize arms as some 40 automatic rifles and 400 pistols were stored there along with ammunition.
But a member of the group involved in the Sloviansk seizure said they wanted to fight people who represented the illegal authorities of interim President Oleksandr Turchynov, according to a video posted on Youtube.
Interviewed in Russian, the man said they represented the People's Front of Donbass - the industrial Donets Basin region in eastern Ukraine.
He said those involved were peaceful Donbass residents and "not fascists".
The acting interior minister has promised a "very tough" response.
In the regional centre Donetsk, police chief Kostyantyn Pozhydayev stood down after pressure from pro-Russia protesters.
"Protesters came to me. So as to prevent bloodshed, I decided to tender my resignation to the [interior] minister," he said in remarks broadcast by Ukrainian TV channel 5 Kanal.
The same channel also showed his deputy, Andriy Anosov - captioned as police chief - inviting pro-Russia protesters to work together with the police to prevent violence and looting.
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