Locals chat with the soldiers, hand them water and cigarettes. Friendly, laid-back atmosphere. Guns not loaded. pic.twitter.com/1QwuLtg89f
— Olaf Koens (@obk) April 16, 2014
Message is stronger today at self-proclaimed Peoples' Republic of #Donetsk. They plan to seize more buildings in town pic.twitter.com/ihHkMEebfn
— Chris Dzieciolowski (@kdzieciol) April 16, 2014
Some salty language among the separtists RT @svaboda: Узброенымі людзьмі захоплены Данецкі http://t.co/cCKLZ2jfS3 pic.twitter.com/6SQm4vZPN6
— Glenn Kates (@gkates) April 16, 2014
Things get a bit heated btw Russian and Western versions of Piglet "He said smth about sanctions" via @vkontakte pic.twitter.com/9jjecBtIM8
— Alessandra Prentice (@alessaprentice) April 16, 2014
Russian disinformation site says CIA head was in Kyiv to recover the bodies of killed Blackwater mercenaries.... http://t.co/SoH9aKrIek
— Robert Coalson (@CoalsonR) April 16, 2014
All in all, only a few of the "green men" in Sloviansk resemble Russian regulars. Some from Crimea, some local. Odd uniforms, odd weapons.
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) April 16, 2014
Speaking after a meeting in Brussels of the North Atlantic Council, Rasmussen said there will be military deployments by sea, air, and land "within days."
He said there will be "more planes in the air, more ships on the water, more readiness on the land."
Although he didn't go into operational details and numbers, he said there will be more air policing in the Baltic region and that allied ships will be deployed in the Baltic Sea, east Mediterranean, and elsewhere if required.
He stressed that the move is about "defense, deterrence, and de-escalation" and was "entirely in line with our international commitments."
He said NATO hopes talks scheduled in Geneva tomorrow will "pave the way for a peaceful and political solution to the crisis."