Pro-Moscow forces have stormed the Ukrainian navy's headquarters in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol and raised the Russian flag in an apparently peaceful takeover.
Witnesses said several hundred members of Crimea's self-defence militia and armed men, thought to be Russian troops, forced their way on to the base and raised three Russian flags over the building.
Despite initial conflicting reports, the takeover appeared to be tense but peaceful.
"This morning they stormed the compound. They cut the gates open, but I heard no shooting," said Oleksander Balanyuk, a captain in the navy.
In Sevastopol, a Reuters witness saw around a dozen Ukrainian servicemen, unarmed and in civilian clothes, walk out of the base unarmed some 90 minutes after the pro-Russia forces entered.
Armed troops - believed to be Russian servicemen - guard the naval base Interfax Ukraine reported the commander of the Ukrainian navy, Admiral Sergei Haiduk, was among those who left and was driven away by officers from Russia's FSB intelligence service.
Russia's Itar-Tass news agency reported that Alexander Vitko, commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet which is also based in Sevastopol, had been involved in talks at the headquarters.
Joe Biden's mission to Eastern Europe aimed to reassure US allies Tensions in the region remained high after troops stormed an army base in Simferopol on Tuesday, killing one soldier.
It comes days after Crimea voted in a referendum to break away from Ukraine and join Russia.
President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty to annex the peninsula to Russia, and other states in the region looked warily at the escalating crisis.
Issuing a warning to Moscow, US Vice President Joe Biden said, during a trip to Lithuania, that the US will respond to any aggression against its Nato allies.
"Russia cannot escape the fact that the world is changing and rejecting outright their behaviour," Mr Biden said, after meeting the leaders of Lithuania and Latvia.
The Baltic states, unlike Ukraine, are Nato members.
Ukraine's interim prime minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has ordered the first deputy prime minister and acting defence minister to fly to Crimea "resolve the situation".
But Crimea's prime minister Sergei Aksyonov has barred the Ukrainian ministers from entering his territory.
Ukrainians leaving the base were cheered by people waving Russian flags Sky News Foreign Affairs Editor Sam Kiley said: "This is an example of the sort of incident that could trigger something much more dangerous."
Meanwhile, a US guided-missile destroyer the USS Truxtun started a one-day military exercise in the Black Sea with the Bulgarian and Romanian navy and the Russian military launched large-scale aviation exercises in western regions.
And Germany's Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he had urged his Russian counterpart in a phone call that an OSCE mission to Ukraine - which has previously been barred from entering Crimea - must be mandated within 24 hours.
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