15:06
9.3.2014
RFE/RL's Ukraine Service tweeting that 500 people showed up to protest referendum during rally in Simferopol.
У Сімферополі півтисячі людей виступають проти референдуму - http://t.co/ZJPcDIU6Yp
— Радіо Свобода (@radiosvoboda) March 9, 2014
Adds that a second Maidan activist, Anatoliy Kovalsky, has gone missing. Earlier reports said that Ukrainian Crimean Council head Andriy Shchekun was detained at Simferopol's train station.
14:50
9.3.2014
Ukraine flag outside donetsk gov building taken down by pro Rus protesters who hoist Russian flag, chanting 'Putin, Putin!'
— tom balmforth (@BalmforthTom) March 9, 2014
14:48
9.3.2014
Kanal 5 reports that Ukrainian Defense Ministry's press service is warning that provacative acts are being planned in Ukraine, claiming that pro-Russia and Crimean self-defense forces are buying Ukrainian military uniforms and that fake videos are being disseminated via the Internet.
14:26
9.3.2014
Sobering words being reported from former U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates:
Robert Gates on @FoxNewsSunday: "I do not believe that Crimea will slip out of Russia's hand" Chris: "You think Crimea's gone" Gates: "I do"
— Mike Allen (@mikeallen) March 9, 2014
14:25
9.3.2014
RFE/RL correspondent Tom Balmforth says from Donetsk with a "Maidan" demonstration under way (following the pro-Russia rally in the same city) outside the Sacred Transfiguration Cathedral, a few hundred meters from the regional administration building. The so-called pro-Ukrainians have suggested that they fear paid pro-Moscow thugs will attack them. "Maidan" football hooligans he has spoken to said they would come, too. So things are tense.
14:18
9.3.2014
Just trying to share some of what's been going on in Donetsk, where thousands of pro-Russian demonstrators are holding a rally.
A few thousand pro Russians demonstrating at donetsk's lenin square. Zhirinovsky expected to speak pic.twitter.com/MVsR32xEnq
— tom balmforth (@BalmforthTom) March 9, 2014
14:16
9.3.2014
Here's our man in Donetsk's photo of the government building:
A few hundred pro Rus protesters marched to gov building. Entrance blocked by a truck, barbed wire and riot police pic.twitter.com/liX1xZSR9q
— tom balmforth (@BalmforthTom) March 9, 2014
14:15
9.3.2014
Our correspondent in Donetsk Tom Balmforth says that with most pro-Moscow demonstrators having marched back to Lenin Square, the regional administration, which was seized twice this past week by pro-Russians, is being guarded by more than 100 riot police, with the entrance blocked by barbed wire and a truck.
14:12
9.3.2014
A polyglot antiwar video on YouTube by Ukrainian university students allied in their support for Euromaidan (h/t @edwardlucas):
13:43
9.3.2014
Here's the direct Yatsenyuk quote via Reuters on his urgent trip to the United States: "I am going to the United states to hold top-level meetings on resolving the situation unfolding in our bilateral and multilateral relations."