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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)

Latest News

-- 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
10:02 25.4.2014
09:45 25.4.2014
RFE/RL's news desk has more on a reported incident near Odesa:
Regional police say seven people were injured by an explosive device overnight at a pro-Ukrainian checkpoint near Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa.

Russian news agencies quote police as saying a bomb was thrown from a passing car.

The injuries are not said to be life-threatening.

The incident is under investigation.

According to the Reuters news agency, Odesa residents have built several such checkpoints near the town aimed at stopping pro-Russian separatists from entering Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniester.

NATO warned last month of a possible Russian military grab for Transdniester following Moscow's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea.
09:40 25.4.2014
09:16 25.4.2014
08:53 25.4.2014
08:43 25.4.2014
RFE/RL's news desk has issued this item on some more economic fallout from the Ukraine crisis:
International ratings agency Standard & Poor's has cut Russia's sovereign credit rating a notch to BBB- and kept its outlook negative.

The agency cited a risk of increased capital flight amid the Ukraine crisis for its decision.

Russia saw capital outflows in the first quarter of 2014 double from a year earlier to $50.6 billion over the uncertainty created by the Ukraine crisis.

The government estimates that full-year capital outflows could reach between $70 billion to $100 billion.

Credit ratings are important for the economy because they determine how expensive it will be for a country or company to borrow on international markets.
08:09 25.4.2014
07:39 25.4.2014
07:22 25.4.2014
Good Morning. We'll start our live blog today with a tweet from the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine:
21:35 24.4.2014
Actually one more item from our Brussels correspondent.
A document from Ukraine’s Naftogaz, seen by RFE/RL, says reversed gas flows from Slovakia could provide Ukraine with as much as 30 billion cubic meters of natural gas a year.

Ukraine needs around 50 billion cubic meters a year.

The country currently gets most of its gas from Russia, which has threatened to sharply increase the price Ukraine must pay amid high tensions between the neighboring states.

Slovakia has indicated it is willing to take the necessary technical steps to get around eight billion cubic meters per year flowing to Ukraine in the coming months. Ukraine says it's possible for Slovakia to provide much more.

However, there are concerns that Russian energy giant Gazprom, which supplies around one-third of Europe’s gas demand, could accuse Slovakia of violating its contract with Gazprom by carrying out such reverse flows.

The Ukrainian and Slovak energy ministers held talks on the issue April 24 in Bratislava with European Union Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger. Further discussions are expected in Kyiv on April 25.

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