-- U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Kyiv as U.S. officials announced Washington is preparing a $1 billion aid package for Ukraine.
-- Speaking at a press conference at his residence, Russian President Vladimir Putin has called the change of government in Ukraine an "unconstitutional overthrow and an armed seizure of power."
-- Putin also said there are no considerations to annex Crimea and no intentions to provoke separatist sentiment. He said it is up to the citizens of Crimea to determine their own future.
-- In Crimea, there are standoffs between Russian and Ukrainian troops in their bases, with conflicting reports of ultimatums given to Ukrainian troops to surrender that come and pass.
-- Russian Ambassador to the UN Vitaly Churkin has said that Ukraine's ousted President Viktor Yanukovych sent a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin requesting that he use the Russian military to restore law and order in his country.
-- In eastern Ukraine, pro-Russian demonstrators have occupied part of the regional government building in the city of Donetsk. Meanwhile, a few hundred pro-Russian activists tried but failed to force their way into the regional administration building in the southern city of Odesa.
NOTE: Live blog updates are listed according to local time in Kyiv
"As I was staying in hospital [eds. in Donetsk], I was informed that there was an alleged attempt on me, that somebody attacked me, that somebody shot at my car. This is all nonsense and lies. Never in my life have I been assaulted."
-- Volodymyr Rybak, whose resignation as parliamentary speaker was announced on Saturday, reacting to claims by ousted President Yanukovych that he had been beaten and shot at in Kyiv on Friday. Rybak's comments were made from Donetsk in a pre-recorded video aired by the pro-opposition Channel 5.
Yulia Tymoshenko says she is not seeking prime-minister's post, according to AFP. Also, from the agencies:
Former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, freed from detention on Saturday, has spoken by telephone with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna party said that in the phone call Sunday, Merkel congratulated Tymoshenko on her release.
It said the chancellor also "expressed the certainty" that Tymoshenko's return to political life would become "one of the main factors in stabilizing the situation in Ukraine," and also contribute to preserving the unity of Ukraine and helping it along the path to European reform.
Batkivshchyna said Tymoshenko and Merkel "agreed to a meeting that could take place very soon."
Tymoshenko also spoke by phone on Sunday with EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele and U.S. Senators John McCain, Richard Durbin and Chris Murphy.
13:5223.2.2014
The tables are turned. Ukrainian traffic police stopped for document checks:
The head of the [eds. Russian] presidential Council for Promoting the Development of the Institutions of Civil Society and Human Rights, Mikhail Fedotov, has called on Ukrainian authorities to lift the ban on the entry into the country of the council member, Moscow Helsinki Group expert Andrey Yurov.
"It is fundamentally important now that the international control over human rights in Ukraine is ensured," Fedotov told Interfax on Sunday [23 February].
"I would like to ask the Ukrainian authorities again to provide Russian human rights defender Andrey Yurov with an opportunity to return to performing his functions of control over the observance of human rights in Ukraine," Fedotov said.
Interfax reported that the Ukrainian authorities had barred Yurov, who was flying to an international conference in Kyiv, from entering the country.
According to Fedotov, the refusal to let Yurov into Ukraine is unacceptable.
"Russia sent [Human Rights Commissioner] Vladimir Lukin as a negotiator to Ukraine this week. It is the human rights topic that should dominate our concern for the situation in Ukraine," Fedotov said.
He said there are many Russian citizens in Ukraine.
13:1923.2.2014
Big anti-Yulia crowd outside Rada. Lots of arguing. Predictably all getting a bit People's Front of Judea
