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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.
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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
10:28 8.5.2014
10:29 8.5.2014
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11:39 8.5.2014
NATO chief Anders-Fogh Rasmussen has been responding to Russian claims that it has pulled back troops from the Ukrainian border:

11:40 8.5.2014
11:41 8.5.2014
11:43 8.5.2014
Here's the latest update on Kyiv's operations against separatists in east Ukraine from RFE/RL's news desk:
Ukraine says the military operation against pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine will continue regardless of their decision to hold referendums.

Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Parubiy said the "antiterrorist operation" will proceed even if the leaders of the self-declared "Donetsk People's Republic" decided to postpone plans for a referendum on self-determination due on May 11.

Ukrainian forces have retaken some of the government offices captured by the separatists in about 12 cities in eastern Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Pution called yesterday for separatist leaders in Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions to delay the holding of such referendums.

Separatist officials said they will consider Putin's request.

Putin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on May 8 that the Kremlin is awaiting the "results of a people's assembly in Donetsk" that he says will decide on whether to hold the referendum.
11:55 8.5.2014
12:05 8.5.2014
So now AFP, Reuters and other agencies are confirming the tweets regarding a referendum in east Ukraine:

Pro-Russian separatist leaders in Donetsk say they will continue with a referendum on self-determination on May 11 despite calls by Russian President Vladimir Putin to postpone it. (Interfax, Reuters, AFP)

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