Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (Archive)

Here's one of those Luhansk People's Republic requests for recognition via the "Guardian's" Moscow correspondent:

We'll await more concrete confirmation, but the "Kyiv Post" is quoting BBC's Russian service quoting the "Donetsk People's Republic" leadership as saying Slovyansk "people's mayor" Vyacheslav Ponomaryov has indeed been "detained."

A little over an hour ago, ITAR-TASS was quoting self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" boss Denis Pushilin as declining to confirm Ponomaryov's "arrest."

The reports began yesterday that separatist Ponomaryov had been deposed and seized based on a decision by "Donetsk People's Republic" commander and Russian national Igor Girkin, also known as Strelkov.

Here's video of Oleh Tsaryov, a Ukrainian lawmaker from the Party of Regions who abandoned his presidential campaign and is an active voice for greater autonomy for the south and east -- and is accused by authorities in Kyiv of separatism -- visiting a hospital in Luhansk.

The "Luhansk People's Republic" is appealing to Russia and a handful of other countries to recognize its independence, according to a Russian report quoting the separatist group's "supreme council."

The ITAR-TASS news agency quotes the council saying the document was "adopted Tuesday" and seeks "recognition of the LNR as a sovereign and independent state."

Aside from Russia, the 15 countries include Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China, Serbia, Venezuela, Cuba, and Nicaragua, according to ITAR-TASS.

The Russian Foreign Ministry says Lavrov -- in a phone conversation with his U.S. counterpart -- has again called for a halt in the Ukrainian military operations in the southern and eastern parts of the country. ITAR-TASS reports:

Statesmanlike?

Somebody's feeling pretty good about those new Moscow-to-Simferopol flights!