13:58
31.3.2014
U.S. Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan expresses support for #UnitedForUkraine:
14:22
31.3.2014
Ukraine's ultranationalist Right Sector movement has set up a recruitment center in the capital, Kyiv. One volunteer told RFE/RL he was joining the group because he didn't trust Ukrainian security services. But a leading political analyst says Right Sector's anti-Russian rhetoric and role as an armed group outside government control may be helping Moscow's propaganda campaign against Ukraine. (Video by Marija Arnautovic of RFE/RL's Balkan Service)
14:35
31.3.2014
Patriarch of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Filaret announces fundraising for the Ukrainian military (in Ukrainian):
14:46
31.3.2014
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble has suggested Russia's public reasoning for its unrecognized annexation of Ukraine's Crimea are similar to arguments used by Hitler's Germany to annex a heavily ethnic German region of western Czechoslovakia in 1938.
The statement drew a quick response from Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said, "I regard the case of the annexation of Crimea as a stand-alone case" and a violation of international law, according to Reuters.
"We know all about that from history," Schaeuble told a group of students and added, "Those are the methods that Hitler used to take over the Sudetenland."
The statement drew a quick response from Chancellor Angela Merkel, who said, "I regard the case of the annexation of Crimea as a stand-alone case" and a violation of international law, according to Reuters.
15:01
31.3.2014
The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin has told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that measures are needed to remove what a statement described as the "blockade" on Moldova's breakaway Transdniester region.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, in the Moldovan capital on March 30, pledged $10 million "to support Moldovan border security efforts...on top of money that we have been providing for a number of years to support nonproliferation objectives and security objectives on the borders."
"This is not a blockade by any means," Nuland added, saying that "commerce and trade is continuing..."
In a phone call to U.S. President Barack Obama on March 28, Putin reportedly suggested Transdniester's border was being blockaded by Ukraine or Moldova.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland, in the Moldovan capital on March 30, pledged $10 million "to support Moldovan border security efforts...on top of money that we have been providing for a number of years to support nonproliferation objectives and security objectives on the borders."
"This is not a blockade by any means," Nuland added, saying that "commerce and trade is continuing..."
In a phone call to U.S. President Barack Obama on March 28, Putin reportedly suggested Transdniester's border was being blockaded by Ukraine or Moldova.
15:12
31.3.2014
From the wires via our newsroom:
The Kremlin says Russian President Vladimir Putin has told German Chancellor Angela Merkel that Ukraine needs constitutional reforms to protect the interests of residents of the country's different regions. A statement on March 31 said the two leaders discussed by telephone "various aspects of the situation in Ukraine, including the possibilities of international assistance to restore stability.” A spokesman for Merkel said Putin had told the chancellor about a partial withdrawal of Russian troops who have been deployed on Russia's side of the Russia-Ukraine border. The spokesman added that the two leaders also talked about further steps to "stabilize" the situation in Ukraine and in Moldova's Russian-speaking separatist region of Transdniester. Putin has previously spoken of the need to protect the interests of ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers in Ukraine, predominantly in the east and south. Merkel has condemned Russia’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean peninsula as a violation of international law.
15:31
31.3.2014
"We have information that the Russian Federation is carrying out unfathomable maneuvers on the borders with Ukraine -- in some border places they are taking away troops, in others they are coming closer. Such actions cannot fail to cause concern, especially since we today do not have a clear explanation from the Russian Federation about the aims of these movements." -- Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Evhen Perebiynis via Reuters
15:42
31.3.2014
A Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman mocks Russia's suggestion that Kyiv must "federalize" Ukraine by saying Ukraine is prepared to provide Moscow with a proposal to federalize Russia and introduce five to 10 official languages.
Via RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
Via RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
15:46
31.3.2014
Reuters and AFP report that Russia's Defense Ministry says it is withdrawing a motorized infantry battalion from a region near Russia's western border with Ukraine. The ministry said the battalion had ended maneuvers in the southern Rostov region and was heading back to its base in the Samarra region on the Volga River. There was no information on the number of troops involved.
Earlier today, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Russia appeared to be reducing the number of its troops on the border. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the reported reduction seemed to be "a small signal that the situation is becoming less tense."
Russia in the past month massed tens of thousands of soldiers on its border with Ukraine, raising concerns that after annexing Crimea it might invade other parts of Ukraine.
Earlier today, Ukraine's Defense Ministry said Russia appeared to be reducing the number of its troops on the border. German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the reported reduction seemed to be "a small signal that the situation is becoming less tense."
Russia in the past month massed tens of thousands of soldiers on its border with Ukraine, raising concerns that after annexing Crimea it might invade other parts of Ukraine.
16:51
31.3.2014
Three broadcasters in the Donetsk region still have not complied with a court order that they suspend their retransmission of Russian broadcasts, our Ukrainian Service reports, quoting a senior official at the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council of Ukraine.