Viktor Yanukovych
Viktor YanukovychReuters

Ukraine's ousted president on Sunday accused the CIA of being behind the new Ukrainian government's decision to deploy armed forces to quash an increasingly brazen pro-Russian insurgency, reported The Associated Press (AP).

Speaking late Sunday on Russian state television, Viktor Yanukovych claimed that CIA director John Brennan had met with Ukraine's new leadership and "in fact sanctioned the use of weapons and provoked bloodshed."

There was no independent confirmation that Brennan was in Ukraine or in any way involved in the decision to send troops to eastern Ukraine, where armed pro-Russia men have seized a number of government buildings, noted AP.

Yanukovych fled to Russia in February, after disturbances in which more than 80 people were killed in Kiev, but insists he is still president.

The Ukrainian government has already issued an arrest warrant for him, as the country's new rulers launched a probe over the government's "mass murder" of protesters in Kiev.

Ukraine has also issued a request to the Interpol to arrest the ousted president, which the international police organization said it was studying.

Meanwhile on Sunday, a Ukrainian security officer was killed and five more were injured in clashes that broke out between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk.

Acting Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov stated that there were "casualties on both sides" from the clashes, including many more injured from the separatist side.

According to Avakov, about 1,000 people were gathered in support of the pro-Russian demonstrators.

Donetsk has been the seat of pro-Russian tensions since earlier this month, when neighboring Crimea held a controversial referendum vote and was annexed by Moscow after a de facto military invasion of the region.