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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
10:06 3.5.2014
This horrific video appears to show Ukrainian nationalists lobbing Molotov cocktails into the trade union building, where over 30 people reportedly died yesterday in a fire.

The Kyiv Post has a write up of the incident.
The Interior Ministry reports that at least 31 people died in the fire, a majority of whom suffocated. Some died in a desperate attempt to escape after leaping from the building's meters-high windows. The Odessa city website, meanwhile, reports that 41 were killed and another 123 injured, according to its preliminary findings.

The blaze began after pro-Russian separatists clashed with activists partaking in a rally filled with supporters for a united Ukraine. The rival groups hurled cobblestones, smoke grenades and Molotov cocktails at each other.

A mob shouted "Glory to Ukraine" and "Death to enemies" as the building burned with people inside.

And it's hard not to agree with Ben Judah's conclusion here.
09:50 3.5.2014
BREAKING: Russian envoy Vladimir Lukin is quoted as saying that the OSCE observers being held in eastern Ukraine have now been released.
09:37 3.5.2014
This is the trade union building this morning, where people lost their lives in the fire yesterday.
09:32 3.5.2014
Graphic video of the scene last night in Odesa, where dozens died in a fire in a building taken over by pro-Russian separatists.
22:47 2.5.2014
Barring any late breaking news, that ends or blogging for May 2. See RFERL.org for news overnight.
22:46 2.5.2014
Aftermath in Odesa:
22:45 2.5.2014
22:20 2.5.2014
Outside forces fighting in Odesa?
21:47 2.5.2014
21:46 2.5.2014
LATEST FROM OUR NEWS DESK:
Ukrainain military says two soldiers killed in clashes with pro-Russian forces in Slovyansk.

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