Donetsk officials now say 33 miners dead:
Officials in the pro-Russian, separatist-held Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine said late March 4 that 33 miners were killed in an explosion in a coal mine earlier in the day.
The Donetsk administration said 17 bodies had been retrieved from the Zasyadko mine and another 16 bodies had been found and would soon be brought to the surface also.
This ends our live-blogging for March 4. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is visiting Moscow on March 5 for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.
The Kremlin said the agenda of Renzi’s talks with Putin includes the conflict in Ukraine and the implementation of the February 12 Minsk II agreement, as well as the situation in Syria and Libya and the spreading threat posed by Islamic State militants.
The Kremlin said Medvedev’s talks with Renzi would include cooperation in trade and economic sectors, the implements of joint industrial and high-tech projects, and cultural interaction.
Trade between Italy and Russia, as well as some joint projects, has been affected by European Union sanctions that have been imposed against Russia for its role in eastern Ukraine’s conflict and its illegal annexation of the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.
The European Union and the United States have threatened further sanctions if Russian-backed separatists carry out fresh attacks against Ukrainian government forces near the port city of Mariupol.