It looks like Yats has backed down over referendums
"In an attempt to quell the deepening crisis in eastern Ukraine, the interim prime minister has offered to devolve more power to the regions.
Arseniy Yatsenyuk met officials in Donetsk on Friday, where pro-Russian separatists are occupying government buildings and demanding a referendum on independence from Kiev."
www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/11/ukraine-pm-power-regions-donetsk-referendum
Russia Today is reporting that the elite Alpha unit of the Berkut refused to obey orders
"The U-turn comes after Ukraine’s elite Alpha unit reportedly refused to obey an order to besiege protester-held buildings. At a session of law enforcement officials in Donetsk, one of the Alpha commanders said that he and his men are a force intended for rescuing hostages and fighting terrorism and will only act in accordance with the law, local media reported.
The unconfirmed act of defiance comes days after the siege by police of a protesters-seized building in Kharkov, which ended with dozens of activists being arrested. On Thursday, a local police lieutenant-colonel spoke to the media, claiming that he and other officers had been deceived by the Kiev authorities. He claimed that they were sent to take over the building under the pretext that it was held by dangerous armed bandits. In fact the protesters had only improvised clubs and offered no resistance to the storming troops.
The officer, Andrey Chuikov, said he would no longer take “criminal” orders and announced his resignation from the police, adding that he would be sacked anyway by his superiors for speaking to the press."
rt.com/news/ukraine-protest-deadline-expires-856/
The Guardian reported two days ago on the protestors in Luhansk and claims that some of theem are elite Alpha units of the Berkut
"You want to know our demands, talk to the people," said a masked commander of the pro-Russian protesters occupying the security service headquarters in Luhansk.
The commander declined to provide his name but said he had fought protesters during deadly clashes in Kiev as a member of the infamous Berkut riot police, lifting his shirt to show a long scar.
"I'll tell you this much: We will fight these faggots," he said, referring to the new government in Kiev.
As negotiations continued on Wednesday with government representatives, the apparently well-organised group of pro-Russian protesters who call themselves the Army of the Southeast struck a defiant stance after seizing the security service building on Sunday.
Members of the building's defence who identified themselves as former Berkut (special police) officers from other regions said they would not to fire first but that if attacked they would fight back until Russian forces arrived.
The Kremlin has said it is prepared to intervene as in Crimea to protect ethnic Russians in other parts of Ukraine, and western generals have reported a Russian troop buildup along the border.
The masked commander said the security service building's defence included him and 42 other former members of the elite Alpha division of the now-disbanded Berkut, who were known as former president Viktor Yanukovich's shock troops during the Euromaidan protests in Kiev. He said the former president, who fled to Russia in February, had betrayed them."
...
"A flier from the Army of the Southeast handed out by protesters in Luhansk called for a referendum "for our future together with Russia and the future of our Slavic Orthodox people, which is on the edge of destruction because of politicians who have been bought".
Officials in Kiev and Washington have said Russia organised the protests in eastern Ukraine, but the masked commander said all those inside the building were Ukrainian citizens, as several middle-aged onlookers brandished their Ukrainian passports.
He denied Ukrainian media reports that the protesters had obtained more than 1,000 firearms after seizing the building. But in a video by occupiers posted on Tuesday, the speaker is flanked by three men with machine guns.
Another masked man manning a street barricade, who said he had served in Kiev as a Berkut officer but was from the nearby region of Zaporozhye, said the building's defenders had "enough weapons for the whole Bandera regime". Many protesters argue that the Kiev government is dominated by nationalists from western Ukraine, where dozens of monuments commemorate the nationalist leader Stepan Bandera, who fought for Ukrainian independence but also collaborated with Nazi invaders during the second world war."
www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/10/luhansk-protesters-occupy-security-headquarters
I am not sure that Yats has enough backing to take on the protestors.