Note that the now sacked - or resigned - defense minister order the troops to fight. There is also the somewhat confused case of the sniper(s) that shoot a Ukrainian soldier and/or a pro-Russian militia man, but failed to trigger a confrontation.

Ukrainian serviceman killed in Crimea - Europe - Al Jazeera English

A Ukrainian serviceman has been killed in an attack at a military facility in the Crimean capital Simferopol, the defence ministry has said.

Al Jazeera's Paul Brennan, reporting from Kiev, said news of the soldier's death had been received with "shock" and that Tuesday's attack had escalated the situation, which he said was "hugely tense".

Our correspondent said Ukrainian authorities described the dead soldier as a warrant officer, but a Crimean news agency, which cited a source in Ukraine's interior ministry, called the victim a self-defence fighter.

It said self-defence fighters were shot by a sniper from an uncompleted building opposite a Ukrainian military base, which is flying a Russian flag. The defence ministry described those behind the attack in the peninsula as "armed masked men".

So it is not so much if Kiev - as in the cabinet - had acted differently, but if Ukrainian military had acted differently.

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