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.
Based on reporting by TASS and Interfax
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has declared a day of national mourning for the more than 30 people killed in a coal mine blast in the eastern city of Donetsk.
Poroshenko decreed a minute's silence to be observed at noon on March 5 for victims of the blast at the Zasyadko mine in the rebel-controlled city.
Emergency officials in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said the bodies of 32 miners had been recovered and one was still missing.
The blast occurred before dawn on March 4 more than 1,000 meters underground.
Russian-backed separatist officials said the accident was caused by methane gas.
Ukrainian authorities attempted to send rescue teams to the region, but Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said the separatists refused to give them access.