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Aleksandr Malykhin, chairman of Luhansk's separatist election commission, announces results of the referendum in the Luhansk region on May 12.
Aleksandr Malykhin, chairman of Luhansk's separatist election commission, announces results of the referendum in the Luhansk region on May 12.

Live Blog: Crisis In Ukraine (Archive)

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-- Self-appointed leaders of the Ukrainian separatist region of Donetsk appealed to Russia to consider absorbing it to "restore historic justice" and to send in troops.

-- Pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk said they would not allow voting for the May 25 presidential election to be conducted.

-- Diplomats say the European Union agreed to impose sanctions against 13 additional individuals and two companies, believed to be the first time the EU has targeted companies over the Ukraine crisis.

-- Ukrainian President Oleksandr Turchynov called the votes a "sham" and the United States said they were illegal and merely "an attempt to create further division and disorder in the country."

-- RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service said one of its affiliate radio stations in Donetsk was taken off the air by gunmen and replaced by a pro-Russian broadcaster.

-- The Kremlin said Ukrainian officials in Kyiv should hold talks with pro-Russian separatists on the results of the self-rule referendums, adding that it respected the "expression of the people's will."

-- Insurgents in eastern Ukraine said nearly 90 percent of voters backed self-rule in the votes.

*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kyiv
13:25 4.5.2014
13:20 4.5.2014
13:19 4.5.2014
13:18 4.5.2014
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin speaking today in Moscow about violence in Odessa and other areas of southeast Ukraine:
"The Odessa tragedy from May 2 has turned the concept of Ukrainian internal political problems and drama upside down. I believe it served as a warning for the entire world."

"Apparently, the Kyiv authorities are not able to establish a dialogue [with its opponents as envisaged in the Geneva agreement] without a outside help. I believe that new efforts will be undertaken in the coming days to renew a drive for bringing both the Kyiv authorities and representatives from the southeast [of Ukraine] to the negotiating table in order to sort out problems that are currently resulting in suffering and death in various regions of Ukraine."
13:13 4.5.2014
Link to live stream of events in Odesa:
13:10 4.5.2014
13:07 4.5.2014
13:06 4.5.2014
Meanwhile in Odesa:
12:51 4.5.2014
Here's an Odesa update from our news desk:
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arsemiy Yatsenyuk has accused Russia of engineering this week's violence in Odesa that left dozens of people dead.

Speaking on a visit to the southern port city today, Yatsenyuk said the violence resulted from a "well-prepared and organized action against people, against Ukraine and against Odesa."

He also blamed security forces for failing to prevent the bloodshed.

More than 40 people died on May 2 in clashes between pro-Russia rebels and pro-Kyiv protesters.

Most of the victims died in a blaze apparently started by firebombs thrown inside the building where they had sought refuge amid the street fighting.

Russia has accused Yatsenyuk's government of provoking bloodshed in eastern Ukraine with an operation to restore Kyiv's authority in a series of cities under the control of pro-Russia rebels.
12:51 4.5.2014
The Russian Foreign Ministry decries "dual blockade":

A translation of the original comment posted in Russian on the Foreign Ministry site today:
At a time when Ukrainian punitive operations are under way in Eastern Ukraine, with some population centers [targeted in security sweeps] and others blockaded, a virtual information blockade has been imposed in the West about the tragic events going on in that country. It is noteworthy that even in the OSCE's circles no one knows that, in Ukraine today, there is bloodshed and troops are firing on unarmed people. What freedom of speech and freedom of the press can one talk about under such conditions?

We demand that the relevant institutions of the OSCE and the Council of Europe immediately give an objective assessment of what is happening in Ukraine.

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