KIEV, Jan. 27 -- Ukrainian Energy Minister Eduard Stavytsky said he and his colleagues had dissuaded protesters from trying to seize control of his ministry on Saturday and claimed that the country's electricity grid was running "as normal."

"Today at 10:15 a.m. Kiev time [0815 GMT] there was an attempt to seize the administrative building and the technological center for the security control of the Ukrainian energy system. But we took all necessary measures and we were able to settle that matter peacefully," Stavytsky told Russia's Rossiya-24 television.