Ukraine flatly rejected as “immoral” a Russian proposal to allow residents of the towns --  including Mariupol on the Sea of Azov, Sumy in the north, the capital Kyiv and Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv -- that would have sent them into the territory of Russia or Belarus, Moscow’s close ally.

The changes are coming fast, weeks after deadly riots jolted the ex-Soviet state, with key resignations and longstanding institutions undergoing being modified or overturned.