Ukraine Puts Forces On Combat Alert, Says Intervention Would Lead To War

KIEV (Reuters) - Ukraine put its armed forces on full combat alert on Saturday and warned Russia that any military intervention in the country would lead to war.

After a more than three-hour meeting with security and defense chiefs, Acting President Oleksander Turchinov said there was no justification for what he called Russian aggression against his country.

Standing beside Turchinov, Prime Minister Arseny Yatseniuk said he had urged Russia to return its troops to base in the Crimea region during a phone call with Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev and called for talks.

"Military intervention would be the beginning of war and the end of any relations between Ukraine and Russia," Yatseniuk told reporters.

(Reporting By Pavel Polityuk, Editing by Timothy Heritage)