Accessibility links

Breaking News
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

20:20 29.7.2015

This ends our live blogging for July 29. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.

07:40 30.7.2015

Good morning. A fair bit of news from overnight.

-- Savchenko trial is due to open in Russia today

-- Russia has been criticized for its MH17 veto

-- IMF lauds Ukraine for its reforms

-- Ukraine charges Russian major with terrorism

07:41 30.7.2015

07:42 30.7.2015

08:17 30.7.2015

10:32 30.7.2015

More on Julie Bishop's condemnation of the MH17 veto:

11:32 30.7.2015

From our news desk. Ukraine investigating French visit to Crimea last week:

Ukraine has launched investigations into a recent visit by French lawmakers to annexed Crimea.

The probes were revealed by Ukrainian lawmaker Heorhiy Lohvinskiy, who on July 30 posted an official letter online from the Prosecutor General's office signed by Deputy Prosecutor-General Anatoliy Matios.

The letter says the investigations were launched into "the illegal entering and exiting of Ukraine's temporarily occupied territory" by French lawmakers.

On July 23, ten deputies from the French National Assembly visited Crimea, which was forcibly seized by Russia from Ukraine in March 2014 and then hurriedly annexed by the Kremlin after an illegal referendum.

The French lawmakers said ahead of their visit that their goal was to "understand how the population lives" and "counter the disinformation of European media" about Russia's internationally unrecognized annexation.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said he was "shocked" by the visit -- the first there by Western dignitaries since Russia annexed the peninsula.

Fabius also condemned the delegation's visit as a breach of international law.

Ukraine's Foreign Ministry called the trip "irresponsible" and said it may impose entry bans on the French lawmakers.

12:22 30.7.2015

12:43 30.7.2015

More on the Savchenko trial:

The trial of a Ukrainian air force pilot charged by Russian authorities in connection with the deaths of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine was adjourned shortly after it began behind closed doors in Russia's Rostov region on July 30.

A court spokeswoman said the court would consider an appeal by Nadya Savchenko's lawyers to conduct the trial in Moscow.

She said a date for the next hearing won't be set until a decision is reached on whether to hold the trial in Moscow.

Western diplomats who attempted to monitor the closed-door trial in the small Russian town of Donetsk, close to the border with Ukraine, were not allowed to attend.

15:11 30.7.2015

With regard to MH17, the U.K. Foreign Office has just issued this pretty blunt message on Facebook:

Load more

XS
SM
MD
LG