10:31
17.3.2014
Agencies report that Ukraine's parliament has endorsed a presidential decree to carry out a partial mobilization involving 40,000 reservists.
10:30
17.3.2014
Crimea's regional parliament overwhelmingly backed the independence declaration and application to join Russia at a special session this morning. It also declared all Ukrainian state property would be nationalized.
10:26
17.3.2014
Interfax reports that Crimea will switch to Moscow time on March 30. Right now Crimea is on Kyiv time, GMT+2. A move will put the peninsula two hours ahead, GMT+4
30 марта Крым перейдет на московское время http://t.co/3ImwdDB8YB
— kommersant.ru (@kommersant) March 17, 2014
10:03
17.3.2014
News agencies report that authorities in Crimea have declared the republic's independence from Ukraine and formally applied to join the Russian Federation.
22:00
16.3.2014
With the vote count apparently headed toward a huge margin of victory for Crimean secession from Ukraine to join Russia and Western governments preparing for tough decisions on specific responses, we will end our live blogging for March 16.
21:55
16.3.2014
Ukraine's Paralympic team leaves Sochi with a message of Peace.
Українську спортсменку Людмилу Павленко намагались не пустити на закриття Параолімпіади у Сочі з прапором #Sochi2014 pic.twitter.com/Dam3hqCFoN
— Hromadske.TV (@HromadskeTV) March 16, 2014
21:46
16.3.2014
Three missing Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church priests, thought to have been abducted by "self-defense" forces in Crimea, have turned up "safe," according to a statement from the church quoted by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
Зниклі у Криму священики УГКЦ знайшлися http://t.co/z5FcRHewVm
— Радіо Свобода (@radiosvoboda) March 16, 2014
21:45
16.3.2014
RT @MiriamElder Uh, the Russian foreign ministry is now sharing WWII-era poetry https://t.co/yag1z5mRt1 …
— Blogs of War (@BlogsofWar) March 16, 2014
21:37
16.3.2014
Crimean election officials say that with votes counted from more than half of the polling stations in today's referendum, 95 percent of the voters support joining Russia.
Aksyonov weighs in:
Aksyonov weighs in:
95,5% - За. 3,5% - Против, 1% - бюллетеней признаны недействительными!
— Сергей Аксенов (@sergyaksenov) March 16, 2014
21:35
16.3.2014
Urging a "fundamental reassessment" of the U.S. relationship with Moscow, Senator John McCain on CNN dismissively calls Russia "a gas station masquerading as a country."