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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.
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.
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Live Blog: Crisis In Ukraine (Archive)

Summary for 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
14:04 28.5.2014
Thomas L. Friedman has been writing in the "New York Times" about how there may be an unexpected upside to the Ukraine crisis:
The crisis in Ukraine never threatened a Cold War-like nuclear Armageddon, but it may be the first case of post-post-Cold War brinkmanship, pitting the 21st century versus the 19th. It pits a Chinese/Russian worldview that says we can take advantage of 21st-century globalization whenever we want to enrich ourselves, and we can behave like 19th-century powers whenever we want to take a bite out of a neighbor — versus a view that says, no, sorry, the world of the 21st century is not just interconnected but interdependent and either you play by those rules or you pay a huge price.

In the end, it was Putinism versus Obamaism, and I’d like to be the first on my block to declare that the "other fellow" — Putin — "just blinked."

Read the entire op-ed piece here.
14:06 28.5.2014
14:08 28.5.2014
14:16 28.5.2014
According to this tweet from a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman, the priest who was reported abducted in Donetsk has been found safe and well:

14:24 28.5.2014
14:31 28.5.2014
15:03 28.5.2014
15:32 28.5.2014
16:38 28.5.2014
Here some more details from our news desk regarding the release of the Polish priest:
Poland's Foreign Ministry says that a Polish Catholic priest who was abducted in Ukraine's eastern city of Donetsk has been released.

The priest, Pawel Witek, was reported missing yesterday.

Marcin Wojciechowski, a spokesman for Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, said today on Twitter that the priest was "free, safe and sound" and under Polish diplomats' care.

Poland's consul-general in Donetsk worked to obtain his release.

No more details were immediately available.

Polish and Ukrainian media reports earlier said that the priest was believed to be at the Ukrainian SBU state security service building, which is occupied by the separatists in Donetsk.
16:48 28.5.2014

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