President Vladimir Putin today at the unveiling of a monument to Russian soldiers who fell in World War I. We'll post them here on this Ukraine Crisis blog...well, for obvious reasons:
"[World War I] reminds us of the consequences of aggression and self-aggrandizement, when the excessive ambitions of state leaders and political elites taking precedence over common sense. And instead of protecting the most prosperous continent of the world -- Europe -- plunged it into danger. It is good to remember this today."
"There are many examples in world history of what the terrible price to be paid for an unwillingness to listen to one another, for trampling the rights and freedoms and legal interests of others for the sake of their own interests and ambitions. It wouldn't be bad to learn how to look and plan at least one step ahead."
"Is it high time for humanity to understand and accept the most important truth: violence brings violence, and the path to peace and prosperity is composed of good will and dialogue and the memory of the lessons of past wars -- about who and why were started."
AFP photo shows a nurse at a Zaporizhzhya field hospital for Ukrainian troops emptying a bucket of blood onto the ground.
The Dutch Justice Ministry says a team of 70 international experts got to work today recovering bodies at the MH17 crash site, our newsroom reports.
"Dutch and Australian experts arrived at the crash site on Friday morning.... The 70 experts will conduct search operations in several places at the crash site," the ministry said.
More than 200 coffins have already been sent back to the Netherlands, whose nationals composed 193 of the 298 dead and which is leading the investigation.
More remains have yet to be recovered amid the intense fighting in the area.
More on the football flap as Russia tries to absorb Crimean squads, from AP. It smells like trouble:
Football clubs from the Crimea region annexed by Russia will play in the Russian leagues this season.
Three clubs will play in the second division south, a third-tier Russian league, the Russian Football Union said in a statement. The move could bring Russia into conflict with UEFA and FIFA.
The three clubs were SKChF Sevastopol, Zhemchuzhina Yalta, and Tavria Simferopol, which shares its name with a former Ukrainian champion club, but is a new entity.
The former Tavria club was renowned as a hotbed of pro-Ukraine sentiment in Crimea, especially among its hardcore supporters.