VIDEO-HOSTING website YouTube has been accused of censoring the official channels of eastern Ukraine people’s republics and denying the world’s media access to news from the ground.

Deputy commander Eduard Basurin said that the channels of the Donetsk People’s Republic’s Information Ministry and People’s Militia had been blocked on Friday without explanation.

The accounts of the Lugansk People’s Republic State Television and Radio Company and the press service of the Lugansk People’s Militia were also removed from YouTube, he added.