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An activist stops a lorry near the village of Chongar, in the Kherson region adjacent to Crimea.
An activist stops a lorry near the village of Chongar, in the Kherson region adjacent to Crimea.

Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (ARCHIVE)

Follow all of the latest developments as they happen.

Final Summary For September 21

-- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called on Russia to withdraw heavy weapons from eastern Ukraine.

-- No trucks have passed through the administrative border from mainland Ukraine to Crimea overnight, according to Oleh Slobodyan, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Service.

-- Hundreds of pro-Kyiv activists from Crimea's Tatar community and other opposition activists are taking part in the blockade of roads from Ukraine to the Crimean peninsula to protest Russia's annexation of the region last year.

-- The German government has criticized Russia for not distancing itself from plans by Russian-backed separatists to hold local elections in eastern Ukraine without consulting Kyiv.

*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kyiv

13:07 17.7.2015

13:09 17.7.2015

Another update from our news desk:

Ukrainian lawmakers have voted to call local elections on October 25.

But the bill passed on July 17 by the Verkhovna Rada said the elections would not be held in the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in March 2014, or in rebel-held eastern districts.

The Kyiv government has had no control over parts of the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions since fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatist rebels erupted there in April 2014. The conflict has since claimed more than 6,500 lives.

The rebels in Donetsk and Luhansk have said they would organize their own local elections in the areas they control this fall.

(AP, TASS, Interfax)

13:31 17.7.2015

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15:03 17.7.2015

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16:43 17.7.2015

18:19 17.7.2015

Moscow To Take' Measures' After Kyiv Expels Odesa Envoy

Russia has vowed to take "necessary measures" in response to the expulsion of its top envoy in Ukraine's Odesa region.

In a July 17 statement, the State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) declared Moscow’s consulate general in Odesa “persona non grata” for conducting unnamed activities "incompatible" with his diplomatic work.

The SBU said career diplomat Valery Shibeko had already left Ukraine.

According to Interfax, Shibeko returned to Russia on July 15.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin told Interfax on July 17 that "Russia will take the necessary measures in response."

"We regard the actions taken by the Ukrainian authorities as another unfriendly step aimed at artificially fueling tensions in bilateral relations," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement on its website.

Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax
18:22 17.7.2015

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