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 The building is one of several in the east of the country seized
by protesters demanding regional referendums on independence from
Kiev, similar to the one that led to Russia's annexation of the
Crimea region last month.
A police spokeswoman said reports that hostages had been taken in
Luhansk were incorrect. The protesters have also denied the reports.
Protesters in Donetsk, to the south, remain in control of the main
regional authority building, but authorities have ended the
occupation in the city of Kharkiv.
"A resolution to this crisis will be found within the next 48
hours," Interior Minister Arsen Avakov told reporters in the capital
Kiev.
"For those who want dialogue, we propose talks and a political
solution. For the minority who want conflict they will get a
forceful answer from the Ukrainian authorities," he said.
A spokesman for the protesters holding the building in Luhansk said
that 50 people had left overnight and that talks on resolving the
crisis were continuing. Others remained there.
Activists, many in balaclavas and masks, continued to build up
barricades using tires, wooden crates and sandbags, and prepared
petrol bombs. Several were holding automatic rifles.
"Those who left were not ready to stay and fight," said the
spokesman, who gave his name as Vasily and said his "soldiers" would
fight on until a referendum on independence from Kiev was held.
"We of course must ask Russia to let us join it," he said, adding
that he hoped for assistance from President Vladimir Putin."
The Ukrainian government says the occupations are part of a
Russian-led plan to dismember the country, a charge Moscow denies.
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U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry accused Russian agents and
special forces on Tuesday of stirring separatist unrest and said
Moscow could be trying to prepare for military action as it had in
Crimea.
Russia denied the accusations on Wednesday and dismissed concerns
over a troop buildup near the border with Ukraine in what has become
the worst East-West crisis since the end of the Cold War in 1991.
"The United States and Ukraine have no reason to be worried," the
Russian Foreign Ministry said. "Russia has stated many times that it
is not carrying out any unusual or unplanned activity on its
territory near the border with Ukraine that would be of military
significance."
Luhansk police spokeswoman Tatyana Popukai said talks with the
protesters were continuing and added: "We hope to resolve this
peacefully because nobody needs blood and death."
(Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Richard Balmforth;
writing by Conor Humphries; editing by Giles Elgood)
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