Updated – 3:30 a.m. ET
A group of armed men occupied Simferopol Airport and Sevastopol Airport in Crimea early Friday morning.
Arsen Avakov, Ukraine's new interior minister, said on Facebook, "I can only describe this as a military invasion and occupation."
Armed men seize Crimean airports. Ukrainian interior minister says it's a Russian "armed invasion and occupation" https://t.co/G3ZZclsxfD
If @AvakovArsen is correct, the Russian "invasion" violates the Budapest Memorandum of 1994 guaranteeing Ukraine's territorial integrity
Yanukovych, meanwhile, arrived for his presser in Rostov-na-Donu accompanied by several fighter jets http://t.co/u7moNbWQ1b
Reportedly the estimated 50 men at the airport were wearing the same uniforms to those who stormed local government buildings in Simferopol and raised the Russian flag.
"Abandon hope all ye who enter here" RT @ChristopherJM The entrance to Sevastopol. via @euromaidan
Inadvertently deleted previous. Here is original photo from @Reuters, alleging Russian troops at airport in Crimea
First close up high detail image now circulating of the group of well armed men that took the #Crimea airport #OSINT
Witnesses apparently told Interfax news agency the men with "Russian Navy ensigns" surrounded Simferopol Airport's domestic terminal.
A soldier at Crimea's Semferipol airport has confirmed to local Channel 1 TV that they are Russian. #Ukraine
Apparently Russia's Black Sea Fleet has denied blocking Belbek Airport in Sevastopol.
Russia's Black Sea fleet denies blocking Belbek airport (but apparently not Simferopol?) http://t.co/zlYFqlKoeh
The AP reports the men have apparently apologized and left Simferopol Airport after no Ukrainian troops had landed at the airport.
Tensions with Russia are high after the recent unrest in Crimea and Moscow sheltering the now fugitive ex-president of Ukraine.
