KIEV, May 5 - Ukraine's largest bank has temporarily closed branches in separatist-held Donetsk and Luhansk, saying it could no longer carry out cash transactions in regions riddled with crime that could "threaten the lives" of its workers, Reuters reported.

Pro-Russian separatists have targeted Privatbank, after its co-owner, billionaire Ihor Kolomoyskiy, was appointed by the new government head of the nearby Dnipropetrovsk region and swiftly announced a $10,000 bounty on the heads of Russian "saboteurs.”