A woman carries a baby as she passes destroyed houses following what locals say was overnight shelling by Ukrainian forces in the eastern town of Slovyansk on June 9.
-- Ukraine's Foreign Ministry says that Moscow and Kyiv have reached a "mutual understanding" on key parts of a plan proposed by President Petro Poroshenko for ending violence in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine.
-- Reports say up to 20 armed gunmen were trying to seize property from a factory (Topaz) that makes communications and electronic-warfare equipment in the Donetsk region.
-- A deputy foreign minister says Russia will consider any expansion of NATO forces near its borders a "demonstration of hostile intentions" and "take the necessary political and military-technological measures to support our security."
-- A two-man crew for Russian Zvezda TV arrived in Moscow after being released from detention in Ukraine.
-- Serbian officials say their own work on the Russian-backed South Stream gas pipeline will have to be suspended after Bulgaria stopped construction of its portion based on EU and U.S. concerns.
-- Ukrainian security forces are reportedly still battling pro-Russian separatists in the east near Slovyansk and Donetsk.
*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kyiv
Citing the tensions in eastern and southern Ukraine, annexed Crimea's leaders have banned demonstrations until June 6. The move comes two days ahead of the 70th anniversary of Stalin and Beria's orders to deport Crimea's Tatars, a potential rallying point for Crimean Tatars (and others) who reject Russia's annexation of the peninsula.
07:4016.5.2014
08:0416.5.2014
The unapologetic, armed Russian agitator and "Orthodox warrior" in southeastern Ukraine's Kramatorsk known as "Commander Babai" tells Gazeta.ru that he wants to see the creation of a country called "Cossackia" in "Novorossia" -- complete with a Russian tsar. As @RusPoliceWatch notes, he also concedes that "I'd say so" when asked whether Putin behaves like a tsar.
08:3816.5.2014
Polish Foreign Minister Sikorski (right) and Ukrainian counterpart Andriy Deshchytsya are meeting in Kyiv.
08:5016.5.2014
Is Russia making plans to ban Twitter?
08:5116.5.2014
An AP crew in Mariupol says no sign of insurgents this morning:
MARIUPOL, Ukraine (AP) — Pro-Russian insurgents have retreated from government buildings in a major eastern Ukrainian city as steelworkers began citizen patrols.
Mariupol, second-largest city in the Donetsk region, was one of the cities in the east overrun by pro-Russian protesters who have been in control of government buildings there for weeks.
Citizen patrols began earlier this week as Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine's richest man who is believed to wield great influence in the area, urged the steelworkers at his factories to help the police restore order in the city.
Akhmetov's Metinvest initiated Thursday's agreement with steel plant directors, local police and community leaders on improving security in the city and vacating separatist-occupied buildings. A representative of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, which declared independence on Monday, was also party to the deal.
An Associated Press crew did not see any insurgent presence in Mariupol Friday morning.
09:0216.5.2014
"Kyiv Post" quotes the Interior Ministry as saying that authorities investigating the May 2 violence in Odesa have "apprehended" two groups suspected of selling ammunition to "radicalized individuals."
09:0716.5.2014
Noting that Donetsk separatists' 24-hour deadline on an ultimatum for Ukrainian authorities to withdraw armored vehicles and remove its checkpoints from Donetsk has now expired, Interfax quotes breakaway "deputy commander" Serhiy Zdrylyuk as saying ahead of the deadline:
"I will wash my hands of it unless armored vehicles, personnel and etc are pulled back from Donetsk within the next few hours. I will no longer care who I am dealing with, either conscripts, young boys aged 18, or elderly professionals or especially mercenaries. Everything will be burned down and destroyed unless the hardware is pulled 20-30 kilometers back from Donetsk. I already have intelligence and sabotage groups."
09:1016.5.2014
09:1616.5.2014
"Ukrayinskaya Pravda" reports that another local election official has been kidnapped, in Luhansk. It quotes Oleksandr Chernenko, who heads the watchdog group Committee of Voters of Ukraine. (via @LeonidRagozin)
