The Ukrainian authorities stress that the newly-imposed ban on traffic and railway connections with Crimea isn't intended to secure safety and prevent possible sabotage, Associated Press reports.
Train and bus traffic was suspended because "there is a high likelihood of sabotage groups entering under the guise of local people," Ukrainian security council spokesman Col. Andriy Lysenko told a briefing. He didn't say how long the closure would last.
Ukrainian police were investigating three fatal explosions in the south of the country, two of them in a city near Crimea and one in Odessa, a major Black Sea port where tensions between pro-Russia residents and supporters of the Kiev government have been strong since more than 40 Russia supporters died when sheltering in a building set ablaze by firebombs in May.
In Kherson, a major city about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Crimea, a man blew himself up at a currency exchange booth after demanding money, and another died when explosives he was carrying detonated outside a store, news reports said. In Odessa, a man died while carrying explosives before dawn, according to reports. Further details weren't immediately available.
In Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine and one of the centers of Ukrainian nationalism and suspicion of Russia, the mayor's house came under fire for the second time this year, local police said.
