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Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a news conference at his country residence of Novo-Ogaryova outside Moscow on March 4.
Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a news conference at his country residence of Novo-Ogaryova outside Moscow on March 4.
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Live Blog: Ukraine On The Brink

Summary

-- 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

-- Glenn Kates / Luke Allnutt / Coilin O'Connor / Dan Wisniewski
11:46 3.3.2014
11:24 3.3.2014
From the wires:
Former Czech Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg says Russian President Vladimir Putin is repeating history by acting in Crimea much like Adolf Hitler did in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1930s. Schwarzenberg told the Austrian daily "Osterreich" on Monday, "What's happening in Ukraine is history repeating itself." He said, "Putin is acting along the same principle as Adolf Hitler" did during his invasions of Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland in 1938 and 1939. Putin asked Russia's parliament on Saturday to allow him to send troops to Ukraine to protect ethnic Russians in Crimea and elsewhere in southeastern regions of Ukraine. Hitler annexed then Czechoslovakia's northern and western regions in 1938 under the pretext of protecting the ethnic German population there. Schwarzenberg served as Czech foreign minister from 2007-2009 and 2010-2013.
11:22 3.3.2014
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