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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
08:46 10.5.2014
Now ITAR-TASS says the Red Cross employees reportedly detained in Donetsk have been released and quotes an unnamed ICRC source as saying there was "no hostage taking" (it is unclear whether that is a direct quote or the agency's phrasing).
08:51 10.5.2014
No confirmation yet from the International Committee of the Red Cross concerning the status of its employees in Donetsk, and whether or not they were detained by gunmen for the self-styled "People's Republic of Donetsk." Here's a tweet from the organization yesterday confirming they had people there as well as in Kharkiv and Odesa, working with Ukrainian Red Cross staff.
08:51 10.5.2014
This was the AFP quote from breakaway leaders this morning:
"They were arrested yesterday. We suspect they were engaged in espionage and we are currently checking these accusations," said Kiril Rudenko, deputy spokesman for the self-proclaimed "People's Republic of Donetsk".
09:03 10.5.2014
Here's our Ukrainian Service's story on the reported Red Cross abductions in Donetsk, including details such as that it involves seven male Red Cross workers taken after a raid last night by unidentified gunmen on the Red Cross offices on Vatutin Prospect in downtown Donetsk. They were reportedly transferred to the regional administration building after their capture.

To repeat, ITAR-TASS is alone so far in reporting that they have been released.
09:21 10.5.2014
AFP now quotes the Red Cross saying its workers detained in eastern Ukraine have been freed.
09:23 10.5.2014
09:24 10.5.2014
Interfax now with greater detail and named sources.
"They were let go at about 2 a.m. One is severely beaten, he is staying at a hospital," Iryna Tsaryuk from the ICRC Ukrainian office told Interfax.
09:25 10.5.2014
AFP: "An emergency response team from the local Red Cross and one member of the international Red Cross were detained. They are now all free," said the official, who did not wish to be named.
09:41 10.5.2014
09:43 10.5.2014

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