Oil prices dipped in Asia Thursday after Russian President Vladimir Putin held out a hand to crisis-hit Ukraine, raising hopes of an easing in the worst East-West standoff since the Cold War.
Russian natural gas exports to European consumer nations via Ukraine remained stable on Monday, a spokesman for state-controlled gas producer Gazprom said
President Barack Obama departs Washington late Monday on a trip to Europe ringing with historic echoes, where sudden turbulence has rocked the political and security order and reshaped his foreign policy.
Ukraine's interim leaders were set to join prayers for peace Saturday on the eve of a crucial presidential vote that Russian President Vladimir Putin has pledged to respect.
Ukraine needs a government of national unity that reaches out to its own people and tackles the country’s long overdue reforms; both Russia and Western powers should back a vision for the country as a bridge between East and West, not a geopolitical battleground.
Pro-Russia protesters disrupted a public meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin Wednesday, calling for the arrest of "Nazis" in Ukraine.
The United States said it will not recognise the result of the independence vote in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, calling it an "illegal" attempt to create division and disorder.
Pro-Russian rebels were preparing to hold an independence vote in eastern Ukraine on Sunday, a move slammed as "illegal" by the US but which could pull the ex-Soviet republic apart.
The United States condemned "unacceptable" violence on the bloodiest day since Kiev's Western-backed government took power, urging both Ukraine and Russia to restore order.
Heavily armed pro-Russian gunmen on Monday seized another town in east Ukraine, storming the town hall in Kostyantynivka and setting up barricades, an AFP journalist saw.
The United States and the European Union were Monday readying fresh sanctions against Russia amid rising tensions over the kidnapping of international observers by pro-Russian militants in Ukraine.
The US and Europe are set to slap new sanctions on Russia as early as Monday over the crisis in Ukraine where tensions spiked over the kidnapping of a team of international observers.
Chief executives of recently self-proclaimed Donetsk people's republic will not hold in this Ukrainian region country's presidential elections slated on May 25, co-chairman of the Donetsk people's republic presidium Denis Pushilin told Itar-Tass.
Ukraine's candidates for presidency are starting a pre-election campaign on national TV channels. The regulations for granting airtime to them were determined by the country's Central Electoral Commission in the course of voting.