Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item that our news desk posted overnight. It's not strictly related to Ukraine, but does indicate how Russia's actions there are reverberating further afield:
Russian Aggression On Agenda As Obama Hosts Nordic Leaders
Russia's increased military assertiveness will be at the top of the agenda when U.S. President Barack Obama meets with the leaders of five Nordic countries on May 13.
The leaders of Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Iceland are making a visit to the White House , where Obama will welcome the leaders for talks on pressing global security issues, including the crises in Syria and Iraq that have sent thousands of migrants flooding into Europe.
Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014 alarmed Russia's Nordic and Baltic neighbors. With NATO considering ways to try to deter further Russian aggression, the White House wants to show support for its northern European allies.
"It is a way of sending a signal that the United States is deeply engaged when it comes to the security of the region, and we will be actively discussing what steps we can collectively take to improve the situation," said Charles Kupchan, Obama's senior director for European affairs.
Based on reporting by Reuters
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Thursday, May 12. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our continuing coverage.
Russian Eurovision Contestant's Surprising View On Crimea
By Claire Bigg
When Ukrainians selected a Crimean Tatar singer to represent their country at the Eurovision Song Contest earlier this year, many Russians were indignant.
The song performed by Jamala evokes the deportation of Crimean Tatars by Soviet dictator Josef Stalin and is widely viewed as a thinly-veiled criticism of Moscow's 2014 annexation of Crimea.
But Russia's own Eurovision entrant, a favorite to win this weekend's contest, can hardly be described as an admirer of the Kremlin's seizure of the peninsula or the jingoism behind it.
A video showing Russian contender Sergei Lazarev discussing the Crimean takeover has surfaced online, creating a stir among both fans and foes.
Read more here.
Ukrainian Blogger Jailed After Campaigning Against Army Draft
IVANO-FRANKIVSK, Ukraine -- A court in Ukraine has sentenced a blogger to prison who had urged conscientious objectors not to fight against Russia-backed separatists in the country’s east.
The Ivano-Frankivsk City Court in western Ukraine found Ruslan Kotsaba, 49, guilty of obstructing the country’s armed forces on May 12 and sentenced him to 3 1/2 years in jail.
The judge ruled that the time Kotsaba spent in pretrial detention since his arrest in February 2015 must be counted as "one day for two." Therefore, it is considered that Kotsaba has already served two years, six months, and eight days of his sentence.
Kotsaba was arrested after he posted a 12-minute video urging people to dodge the military draft. The clip was viewed more than 300,000 times.
Kotsaba's lawyer, Ihor Sulyma, told RFE/RL that his client's sentence will be appealed.
With reporting by AFP
Poroshenko Ally With No Legal Background Appointed As Top Ukraine Prosecutor
Ukraine’s parliament has appointed a close ally of President Petro Poroshenko with no legal background to become the country's new prosecutor-general.
Addressing lawmakers on May 12, Poroshenko said Yuriy Lutsenko would build public trust in the prosecution service.
Lutsenko, 51, is a former interior minister and head of Poroshenko's parliamentary faction. His university degree is in engineering.
Earlier on May 12, parliament approved a bill removing a requirement that only a person with a legal background can take the post of prosecutor-general, clearing the way for Poroshenko to put forward Lutsenko for the role.
The post is seen by the West as crucial for Ukraine to tackle entrenched corruption.
Poroshenko fired the previous prosecutor-general after being criticized for failing to indict corrupt officials.