We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back again tomorrow morning to follow all the latest developments, Until then, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.
Before we go tonight, though, we'll point you in the direction of this feature by RFE/RL's Moscow correspondent Matthew Luxmoore:
Crimea Is Ours: Russia Up In Arms After Google 'Incorrectly' Maps Peninsula
MOSCOW -- Amid threats of being suspended in Russia, Google has become embroiled in a series of disputes with the Kremlin that may be causing the international technology company to bend to Moscow's pressure and adhere to its growing demands.
On February 7, Russian media reported that Google has begun to censor search results in Russia after a protracted standoff with the country's powerful communications watchdog, Roskomnadzor. One anonymous official at the agency claimed the U.S.-based company was blocking some 70 percent of the websites blacklisted by Russia.
Roskomnadzor spokesman Vadim Ampelonsky told state news agency RIA on February 7 that "we have developed a constructive dialogue with Google and this dialogue currently satisfies us."
Meanwhile, Vasily Piskaryov, the chairman of the Russian Duma's Security and Anti-Corruption Committee, said after meeting with a Google representative the same day that the company was taking extra measures to ensure its maps in Russia display Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula as Russian territory.
Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in March 2014, sending in troops and staging a referendum denounced as illegitimate by at least 100 countries, after Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych was pushed from power by protests.
Piskaryov said Marina Zhunich, Google's director for government relations, told him during the Moscow meeting that the "incorrect information" that some Google users in Russia may see was the result of a technical error and that resolving this "was her priority."
When Crimea is accessed on Google Maps in Russia, Crimea is shown as belonging to Russia -- at least most of the time. There are some reports that people see it marked as disputed territory on some smartphones and other devices.
Read more here.
And here's another item from our news desk:
Record 44 Candidates To Run In Ukraine's Presidential Race
Ukrainian election officials said a record 44 candidates have registered to run in the country's March presidential election.
President Petro Poroshenko is seeking a second five-year term and has vowed to press for European Union and NATO membership for the country.
Recent polls indicate former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and comedian Volodymyr Zelensky will be Poroshenko's closest rivals in the March 31 election.
The 53-year-old Poroshenko, one of Ukraine’s richest men, came to power in the aftermath of the pro-European Maidan protests that pushed Moscow-friendly President Viktor Yanukovych out in February 2014.
He has vocally advocated closer integration with the West and criticized Russia following Moscow's seizure of Ukraine’s Crimea region and amid a continuing war against Russia-backed separatists in the eastern region known as the Donbas.
Tymoshenko, 58, was a leader of the 2004 Orange Revolution but was defeated by Poroshenko in the 2014 presidential election.
Former Deputy Prime Minister Yuriy Boyko is also among those who registered.
Based on reporting by AP and AFP