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Aleksandr Malykhin, chairman of Luhansk's separatist election commission, announces results of the referendum in the Luhansk region on May 12.
Aleksandr Malykhin, chairman of Luhansk's separatist election commission, announces results of the referendum in the Luhansk region on May 12.

Live Blog: Crisis In Ukraine (Archive)

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-- Self-appointed leaders of the Ukrainian separatist region of Donetsk appealed to Russia to consider absorbing it to "restore historic justice" and to send in troops.

-- Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk said they would not allow voting for the May 25 presidential election to be conducted.

-- Diplomats say the European Union agreed to impose sanctions against 13 additional individuals and two companies, believed to be the first time the EU has targeted companies over the Ukraine crisis.

-- Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov called the votes a "sham" and the United States said they were illegal and merely "an attempt to create further division and disorder in the country."

-- RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service said one of its affiliate radio stations in Donetsk was taken off the air by gunmen and replaced by a pro-Russian broadcaster.

-- The Kremlin said Ukrainian officials in Kyiv should hold talks with pro-Russian separatists on the results of the self-rule referendums, adding that it respected the "expression of the people's will."

-- Insurgents in eastern Ukraine said nearly 90 percent of voters backed self-rule in the votes.

*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kyiv
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Here's some more details from RFE/RL's news desk on the Ukrainian government's "antiterrorist" operations in the east:
The Ukrainian government said troops have repelled an attack by pro-Russian rebels on a military base in the east of the country.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Facebook on April 24 that the attack took place overnight at Artemivsk, located between Donetsk and Slovyansk.

Avakov said a soldier was wounded in the attack by about 70 separatists.

Avakov also said pro-Russian insurgents have vacated the town hall in Mariupol, on the Black Sea coast, and that the mayor was back in his office.

A local news website reported that five people who were occupying the building were injured in clashes with the police.

Pro-Russian activists and masked gunmen have been occupying government buildings across eastern Ukraine for nearly two weeks.

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Our news desk has some more details on Lavrov's latest comments on Geneva:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is quoted as saying he expects that the Geneva agreement on Ukraine "will be implemented in practical actions in the near future."

On April 17, Ukraine, Russia, the United States, and the European Union agreed to a deal under which illegal armed groups in eastern Ukraine would disarm and public buildings would be vacated.

Speaking today at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations, Lavrov also accused the United States and European Union of trying to stage an unconstitutional "color revolution" in Ukraine with the ouster of former President Viktor Yanukovych in February.

He said Ukraine is being used as a "pawn in a geopolitical game" against Russia.

Lavrov's comments come shortly after U.S. President Barack Obama accused Russia of not abiding by the Geneva agreement.

Speaking during a trip to Japan, Obama said that if Russia does not fulfill the terms of the agreement, the United States "will ramp up further sanctions."
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Reuters quotes Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov as saying he expects the Geneva agreement on Ukraine to be implemented in practical steps "in the near future."

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