Ukraine crisis: UN envoy ‘threatened by gunmen’ in Crimea
16.55 The UN has immediately denied the reports that the UN’s
special representative to Ukraine was seized. He was apparently
threatened by gunmen.
16.47 BREAKING: Ukraine’s foreign ministry has just confirmed
UN’s special representative to Ukraine has been seized by armed men in
Crimea
An elderly pro-Russian activist cries as Urkainian riot police officers
stand guard in front of the regional state administration building in the
eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk
16.14 Dozens have been injured in Donetsk as pro-Russians take
back the local government HQ, AFP reports.
15.39 Pro-Russian protestors have retaken regional government buildings
in Donetsk, hours after they were thrown out by police. The region is the
home area of Yanukovych.
15.17 Our correspondent, Damien McElroy, has spoken to the doctor at
the centre of the claims that snipers that shot people in Kyiv were
hired by Maidan leaders:
Olga Bogomolets said she had not told Mr Paet that policemen and
protesters had been killed in the same manner.
“Myself I saw only protesters. I do not know the type of wounds
suffered by military people,” she told The Telegraph. “I have no
access to those people.”
But she said she had asked for a full forensic criminal investigation into
the deaths that occurred in the Maidan. “No one who just sees the
wounds when treating the victims can make a determination about the type of
weapons. I hope international experts and Ukrainian investigators will make
a determination of what type of weapons, who was involved in the killings
and how it was done. I have no data to prove anything.
“I was a doctor helping to save people on the square. There were 15
people killed on the first day by snipers. They were shot directly to the
heart, brain and arteries. There were more than 40 the next day, 12 of them
died in my arms.
“Our nation has to ask the question who were the killers, who asked
them to come to Ukraine. We need good answers on the basis of expertise.”
Mr Paet’s assertion that an opposition figure was behind the Maidan
massacre was not one she could share.
“I think you can only say something like this on the basis of fact,”
she said. “Its not correct and its not good to do this. It should be
based on fact.”
She said the new government in Kyiv had assured her a criminal
investigation had begun but that she had not direct contact with it so far.
“They told me they have begun a criminal process and if they say that
I believe them. The police have not given me any information on it.”
A member of the Ukrainian Navy stands guard on top of the Ukrainian navy
ship Ternopil in Sevastopol
15.07 Mr Kerry and Mr Lavrov have held direct talks on Ukraine
in Paris on the sidelines of an international meeting on Lebanon, a
diplomatic source said.
The pair held discussions along with their German and French counterparts over
coffee after lunch at the French presidential palace, an AFP journalist
witnessed.
14.27 Bruno Waterfield reports from Brussles on the OSCE mission:
Two British military advisers will be among 35 unarmed personnel sent to
the Ukraine by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe
(OSCE).
The mission is already on its way to Ukraine, at its request where it will
“help to dispel concerns about unusual military activities”.
OSCE monitors are at the heart of Western diplomacy to contain Russia’s
seizure of Crimea and to defuse a Ukraine crisis that has pushed the country
to the brink of war.
Russia’s agreement to accept an OSCE monitoring mission in Ukraine will be
a key condition for the EU and US if Moscow is to avoid sanctions at a
Brussels summit tomorrow.
The OSCE has been discussing a monitoring mission to Ukraine, including
Crimea, which would send in observers in much greater numbers, in hundreds
rather than dozens.
According to Berlin, Vladimir Putin has accepted a suggestion by Angela
Merkel to set up a “fact-finding mission” to Ukraine and a “contact group”
under the auspices of the OSCE and the Council of Europe, Russia belongs to
both organisations.
The OSCE monitoring mission could oversee and verify Russia’s withdrawal
back to their bases in a way that is palatable for President Putin,
providing the “de-escalation” and “exit ramp” that Western powers want for
the Russians.
Russia’s acceptance of observers and the contact groups, alongside a
promise to return to bases in Crimea, will be the pre-condition the EU needs
at a summit tomorrow in order to avoid hitting Moscow with sanctions.
13.45 We cannot independently verify, but there are reports in Russia
that the snipers who shot at protesters and police in Kyiv were hired by
Maidan leaders, according to a leaked phone conversation between the EU
foreign affairs chief Catherine Ashton and Estonian foreign affairs
minister. Russia
Today, the Kremlin-funded news channel made the claim. Baroness
Ashton had no comment when approached by Bruno Waterfield, our
correspondent in Brussels.
“There is now stronger and stronger understanding that behind the snipers, it
was not Yanukovich, but it was somebody from the new coalition,” Urmas Paet
said during the conversation.
“I think we do want to investigate. I mean, I didn’t pick that up, that’s
interesting. Gosh,” Baroness Ashton answered.
13.04 British and American military personnel will join the unarmed
Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) mission
to Ukraine, it has been announced. In a statement
the OSCE said:
Eighteen OSCE participating States decided to send 35 unarmed military
personnel to Ukraine in response to its request.
The matter was discussed at a joint meeting of the Permanent Council and
the Forum for Security Co-operation (FSC) in Vienna on 4 March 2014.
The visit is taking place under Chapter III of the Vienna Document 2011,
which allows for voluntary hosting of visits to dispel concerns about
unusual military activities. Ukraine has requested all OSCE participating
States to send military representatives from 5 to 12 March 2014, starting in
Odessa. This is the first time this mechanism has been activated.
12.58 Damien McElroy reports from Donetsk:
Pavel Gubarev, the leader of a separatist movement in the eastern town of
Donetsk, has vowed to retake the regional government headquarters despite a
strong police cordon.
Supporters have gathered outside the building for a new assault due to
start any minute.
12.42 Ukraine’s new prime minister, in his first interview since taking
office, has told The Associated Press that Crimea must remain part of
Ukraine, but may be granted more local powers.
Arseney Yatsenyuk said that a special task force could be established “to
consider what kind of additional autonomy the Crimean Republic could get”.
12.35 German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called on Russia not
to do anything to destabilise the situation in Ukraine. Her spokesman
Steffen Seibert told a government news briefing:
Russia must desist from any taunting which could lead to a destabilisation of
the situation.
As a result of Russia’s actions, the situation in Crimea goes against
international agreements that Russia has signed up to. It’s a situation
which is not acceptable.
12.30 William Hague has urged Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to
meet with his Ukrainian counterpart in Paris to kickstart negotiations
aimed at peacefully resolving the crisis in the Crimea. The Foreign
Secretary said:
The goal for today is to bring the Russians into a diplomatic process…at
least a start of it.
A member of the Ukrainian Navy stands guard on top of the Ukrainian navy
command ship Slavutych in Sevastopol
11.55 The Ukraine crisis has dominated newspaper editorials. The
New York Times says that, although yesterday’s conciliatory talk
from Mr Putin has led to an easing of the tensions and a rebound of Russian
financial markets, “leadership and credibility in a crisis mean
reacting coolly and rationally, not rattling sabers, or rushing into
economic warfare that allies may or may not support, or painting ‘red lines’
that the other side can cross with impunity”:
Short of war, there is little the United States can do on its own to punish
Russia. It is not among Russia’s major trading partners. Europe, which does
far more business with Russia, has more leverage, but also a dependence on
Russian gas, and, so far, European leaders have shown little enthusiasm for
economic sanctions.
The measures that have been suggested — exclusion from the Group of 8,
selective sanctions and travel bans — would not alone cause much pain. But
the consequences of isolation take a toll over time.
A Telegraph
editorial, meanwhile, writes that Mr Putin needs to be left in no
doubt that his forays in Georgia in 2008 and now in Ukraine must not extend
to former Soviet countries that are part of Nato:
Mr Putin needs to be left in no doubt that his revanchist forays in Georgia
in 2008 and now in Ukraine must not extend to those former Soviet countries
that are now part of Nato but which also have Russian-speaking populations,
notably the Baltic states. Mr Kerry said America did not seek a
confrontation with Russia, yet stood by Ukraine. The next few days will
decide whether both of those outcomes are possible.
A Ukrainian warship passes through Bosporus strait, Turkey, heading
towards Ukraine
11.50 Vladimir Putin has said that he did not want political tension to
detract from economic cooperation with Russia’s “traditional
partners”, signalling he hopes to avoid spillover from a bitter dispute
with the West over Ukraine.
The Russian president told cabinet members:
We are seeing known political tension, it should not affect our current
economic cooperation.
It’s not necessary to add to the difficult situation, we need to cooperate
with all our traditional partners – while providing for our own interests,
of course.
It is not necessary to whip things up and place political considerations on
top of issues of economic cooperation.
10.51 Here is the Russian flag being lowered – and the Ukrainian flag
being hoisted in Donetsk:
10.41 Hopes are building that today could be significant in achieving a diplomatic
breakthrough.
Ukraine’s top security official has said he hoped the crisis in the Crimea
region could soon be resolved through dialogue. Andriy Paruby, Secretary of
Ukraine’s Security and Defence Council, told reporters:
Last night there were already fewer emergency situations and fewer conflicts
in Crimea. I hope that in the coming days a way will be found to solve
everything through negotiations.
10.34 Fifteen member states of the Organisation for Security and
Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) have agreed to send military observers to
Ukraine – a diplomatic source told AFP:
Fifteen countries, including the United States and other countries in Europe
and central Asia, will participate in this mission.
10.15 Mr Lavrov claimd Russia has no authority over the
pro-Moscow forces operating in Ukraine. Asked whether he would negotiate the
return of pro-Russian forces to their bases in the Crimea, Mr Lavrov told
the news conference in Madrid: “If they are the self-defence forces
created by the inhabitants of Crimea, we have no authority over them. They
do not receive our orders.”
10.03 Ukraine raised its flag over the government headquarters
in the eastern city of Donetsk this morning, where a Russian flag had stood
since Saturday, witnesses told Reuters.
Police said they were evacuating the building, which has been occupied since
Monday by pro-Russian demonstrators. A police statement said the evacuation
began after reports that the building was booby-trapped with bombs.
09.54 Russia will not allow bloodshed in Ukraine, Mr Lavrov
says. At the same time as his press conference, Ukraine announces that a second
missile base has been occupied by Russian forces.
Mr Lavrov said:
We will not allow bloodshed. We will not allow attempts against the lives and
wellbeing of those who live in Ukraine and Russian citizens who live in
Ukraine.
09.36 Sergei Lavrov – speaking in Madrid, says the West set a
bad example by supporting Ukraine protesters.
Sergei
Lavrov shakes hands with his Spanish counterpart Jose Manuel Garcia-Margallo
in Madrid
09.32 The Ukraine foreign minister is speaking in Paris at the start of
a day of diplomacy between Russia, the US and Ukraine. Andriy Deshchytsya
said:
We want to keep good dialogue, good relations with the Russian people. We want
to settle this conflict peacefully. We don’t want to fight with Russia.
09.30 London (GMT), 11.30 Kyiv (EET), 13.30 Moscow (MSK), 01.30 Washington
(PST) Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of the Ukraine
crisis,
Ukraine
crisis: March 4 as it happened
Ukraine
crisis: March 3 as it happened
Open all references in tabs: [1 – 6]