Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaking on March 28 to his supporters as he held his last campaign rally in the western town of Lviv ahead of the first round of presidential election on March 31:
-- "By ticking a candidate on a voting ballot, each of you will give an answer to important questions of the existence of a country. The first question is whether Ukraine will continue on its way toward the European Union and NATO. The second question is whether the Ukrainians will allow the revenge of pro-Russian forces and the victory of candidates who are convenient for Russia at the presidential election and at the parliamentary elections to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The third question is whether we are able to oppose attempts by the Kremlin to conquer Ukraine again and to turn it into, if not a part, then into a satellite of an empire."
-- "Ukraine and future of our people is at stake. And we will never allow anyone to disrupt our elections."
-- "It is always important to remember the motives of those who openly spread lies. My opponents have been pouring rivers of shameless lies on me in recent weeks. The main tool of spreading lies in recent months, sadly, is the 1 + 1 channel. This TV channel has become a submissive executor of the political orders of its owner [Ihor Kolomoiskyy]. He has fled abroad, but he simultaneously moves two figures on the election chessboard. The figures are called Ze1 and Y2."
And speaking to reporters following the rally in Lviv:
-- "We definitely need to protect free and fair elections in Ukraine. You see now here in Lviv what is the enthusiasm of the people just for the future of Ukraine, for protecting democracy in Ukraine, for protecting the rule of law in Ukraine. And I am absolutely confident that we have enough power just not to allow any pro-Putin, or nationalistic, or small Nazi groups to try to block, or to cancel, or to attack our election. We are responsible, we understand how important this election is for the democracy in Ukraine, for the future of Ukraine and for the stability in Europe. And I am absolutely confident that we can protect it."
U.S. State Department condemns arrests of Crimean Tatars by Russian authorities:
By RFE/RL
The U.S. State Department has condemned the arrests of 23 Crimean Tatars in Russian-annexed Crimea.
In a March 28 Twitter statement, State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino called on Russia to release the arrested men "and the 70+ other unjustly imprisoned Ukrainians."
A court in the Crimean capital, Simferopol, said on March 29 that since March 27, 23 Crimean Tatars had been arrested and placed in pretrial detention until May 15, on charges of belonging to the banned Hizb ut-Tahrir Islamic group.
Crimean Solidarity, a human rights group that has members in Crimea and other parts of Ukraine, said earlier that at least 25 homes of Crimean Tatars were searched on March 27 in Simferopol, and nearby districts.
Since Russia seized the Ukrainian peninsula in 2014, Russian authorities have prosecuted 31 Crimean Tatars for allegedly belonging to Hizb ut-Tahrir.
In February, the branch of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) in the Black Sea region launched probes against eight alleged members of the group accused of plotting to seize power in Crimea.
Hizb ut-Tahrir is a global organization based in London that seeks to unite all Muslim countries into an Islamic caliphate.
The group can operate legally in Ukraine. However, Russia's Supreme Court banned it in 2003, branding its supporters "extremists."
Rights groups and Western governments have denounced what they describe as a campaign of repression by the Russian-imposed authorities in Crimea who are targeting members of the Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar community and others who have spoken out against Moscow's takeover of the peninsula.
Russia took control of Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014 after sending in troops, seizing key facilities, and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries. Moscow also backs separatists in a war against government forces that has killed some 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014. (w/TASS)