We are now closing the live blog for today. Until we resume again tomorrow morning, you can keep up with all our Ukraine coverage here.
Another item just in from RFE/RL's news desk and Washington bureau:
U.S. Bill Links Russia Sanctions Relief To Crimea's Return To Ukraine
WASHINGTON -- A new bill in the U.S. Congress would prevent the White House from lifting a raft of sanctions against Russia until Ukraine restores control over Crimea, which Moscow forcibly annexed in 2014, or settles the peninsula's status to Kyiv's satisfaction.
The legislation, announced on April 29 by U.S. Representatives Eliot Engel (Democrat-New York) and Adam Kinzinger (Republican-Illinois), aims to bolster U.S. support for Kyiv with measures that include tightened sanctions against Russia and a push for greater private investment in the Ukrainian economy.
"We need to build on our sanctions regime against troublemakers in the Kremlin, while working to preserve transatlantic unity," Engel, the top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said in a statement.
"And we need to find ways of shoring up Ukraine and deterring [Russian President Vladimir] Putin that go beyond just throwing more money at the problem," Engel added.
U.S. President Barack Obama's administration slapped several rounds of sanctions on senior Russian officials and companies following Moscow's military seizure of Crimea in March 2014 and an ensuing war between Russia-backed separatists and Kyiv’s forces in eastern Ukraine.
These measures and analogous ones taken by the EU have angered the Kremlin, which has said it moved to take control over Crimea due to fears for the people there after the ouster of Ukraine's Moscow-backed president, Viktor Yanukovich, amid protests that Russia has cast as a U.S.-backed coup.
Russia also denies backing armed separatists in the conflict in eastern Ukraine that has killed more than 9,300 since April 2014, despite significant evidence of such support.
The bill would require that the U.S. president, prior to lifting a raft of Ukraine-related sanctions, submit "certification" to Congress that Ukraine has restored "sovereignty" over Crimea or that the peninsula's status has been resolved to the satisfaction "of a democratically elected government" in Kyiv.
"As we have seen time and again, there is no stopping Vladimir Putin’s disrespect for global order, especially in regards to Ukraine," Kinzinger said. "It's time for the United States to stand up and reiterate that it will not tolerate Russia's aggression."
Called the Stability And Democracy For Ukraine Act, the legislation was introduced in the House of Representatives on April 28 by Engel, Kinzinger, and 14 other co-sponsors.
The legislation would also codify the U.S. government’s policy of nonrecognition of Russian authority over Crimea, mirroring Washington's policy of refusing to recognize Soviet sovereignty over the Baltic nations of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.
It also directs the U.S. administration "to consult with the government of Ukraine and seek to establish an international consortium to drive private investment in Ukraine by minimizing and pooling political risk to would-be private investors," Engel's office said in a statement.
Here are some more details from our news desk on the Ukraine Contact Group's efforts to ensure an Easter cease-fire:
Trilateral Contact Group Seeks Easter Cease-Fire In Ukraine
The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine says it aims for a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine to begin with the start of the Easter and May holidays.
The group, which comprises representatives from Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said in Minsk that it will work for the cease-fire to become effective on April 30 at midnight local time.
The Contact Group issued a statement on April 29 saying all members have agreed that their "respective orders with regard to total compliance with the ceasefire will be communicated to all responsible persons on the ground."
The announcement comes a day after the OSCE warned that violence in the war zone in eastern Ukraine had reached levels not seen for months.
A peace deal co-signed by France and Germany in February 2015 in Minsk was meant to end the fighting, but the two-year war has now killed more than 9,300 people as the sides trade blame for truce violations.
The United Nations on April 28 raised its estimate of the total killed during the conflict in eastern Ukraine to 9,333 from 9,160 in March.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Taye-Brook Zerihoun told the UN Security Council that the total number of casualties now stands at 30,729, including 9,333 people killed and 21,396 injured.
Ukraine told the UN Security Council on April 28 that its cease-fire with separatists in the east must be strengthened before progress can be achieved on a political solution to the conflict.
It was the first council meeting on Ukraine since December.