Pro-Russians attack Ukraine base in west Crimea

KIEV, Mar 19 (agencies): Pro-Russian forces used a tractor to ram through the gate of a Ukrainian navy base in western Crimea on Wednesday, seizing control of the entrance, Ukraine's defence ministry said.
"Russian soldiers" then halted their advance, ministry spokesman Vladislav Seleznev said on his Facebook page, adding that they were now in a standoff with armed Ukrainian troops at the base in Novoozerne.
Ukrainian soldiers filed out of navy headquarters in Sevastopol Wednesday after it was seized by hundreds of pro-Moscow activists and Russian troops, AFP reporters saw.
One of the soldiers was in tears as he left and a Russian flag could be seen flying over the base, replacing the Ukrainian one that used to hang there.
Meanwhile: As the conflict between Ukraine and Russia escalates to a "military stage" after Moscow's move to claim the Black Sea region of Crimea, hundreds of Ukrainians have mobilised to fight the battle on another front-the media.
Journalists, advertising executives and students have signed up as volunteers to join a propaganda war against Russia, which they accuse of deliberately misleading the public using wide-reaching state-controlled news agencies, television channels and newspapers.
"Ukraine has been losing the war that's being waged in the media. Russians have been very consciously, deliberately pursuing the strategy of misinforming the worldwide community," Yaryna Klyuchkovska, one of the coordinators of the recently established Ukraine Crisis Media Centre, told AFP.
"Our weapon is information... We need to mobilise to provide a counterweight," added her colleague Oxana Melnychuk.
The centre set up by PR and advertising executives holds daily news conferences with ministers and activists, and publishes analyses that counter the Russian point of view.