-- 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."
New York University political scientist Mark Galeotti (regular guest on RFE/RL's Power Vertical podcast) writes on his blog that Russia's success in Ukraine could lead to increased funding and prestige for the GRU military-intelligence service:
"Ukraine may well change all that. Being “persecuted” by Kyiv and Europe is a mark of pride in Putin’s new Russia, and is as good as a medal. More to the point, it is clear that GRU operators, Spetsnaz, are active on the ground in eastern Ukraine, just as they were in Crimea, and they seem to be doing their nefarious job well. In this new age of asymmetric military-political conflict, such assets are a key strength of Russia’s regional power-projection capability; they are less valuable as straightforward war-fighters and much more so as covert operators and the facilitators of other deniable operations. Not only may the Ukraine conflict help stop–or at least bring a temporary ceasefire to–internecine struggles within the Russian security apparatus, it may well prove the saviour of the GRU in its current configuration."
10:292.5.2014
AFP is reporting that Russia has asked the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to help stop the Ukrainian security operation near Slovyansk. The agency quotes Russian OSCE Ambassador Andrei Kelin as saying: "We have gotten in touch with the OSCE leadership over the offensive of the armed forces and demanded that they take steps to stop this reprisal raid."
10:342.5.2014
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has told journalists that the Ukrainian security operation near Slovyansk has "destroyed the last hope" of the viability of the April 17 Geneva agreement.
He also said that President Vladimir Putin is being constantly informed about developments in eastern Ukraine.
Peskov also said Russia has been "unable to contact" Vladimir Lukin, Putin's envoy to Ukraine who was sent to southeastern Ukraine on May 1 to help secure the release of OSCE military monitors being held by pro-Russia militants in Slovyansk.
UPDATE: A few moments after Peskov made this comment about Lukin, Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti reported it had managed to speak with Lukin by telephone.
10:462.5.2014
I'm not sure what this photo is about, but it is too good not to share. This, by the way, is Cheburashka, the Soviet cartoon character after whom some Russian officials would like to name a proposed Russia-only version of the Internet:
10:502.5.2014
Here's a powerful photogallery of images from the May Day parade in Moscow's Red Square yesterday. Compelling snapshot of the prevailing mood in Russia.
11:042.5.2014
Russian state news agency RIA-Novosti, citing an unnamed source with the pro-Russian militia in southeastern Ukraine, says "foreigners" are participating in the Ukrainian security operation near Slovyansk.
"Militia members using radios have several times intercepted messages in English," the source reportedly said, adding this is "direct evidence of the participation of foreign citizens in conducting the punative operation against Slovyansk."
11:062.5.2014
This video purports to show pro-Russian militants firing on a Ukrainian military helicopter near Slovyansk on May 2:
11:272.5.2014
11:322.5.2014
Fantastic photos from Mashable from yesterday's May Day parade in Russia.
Donetsk is among the cities in eastern Ukraine where pro-Russian separatists have taken control of government offices. On May 1, some 200 people stormed the regional prosecutor's office, throwing rocks at police and raising the flag of the self-declared "Donetsk People's Republic." In this photo series, Reuters photographer Marko Djurica asked a group of pro-Russian separatists to pose for portraits inside one of the government buildings they are occupying.
