KIEV, March 18 – Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk has said that the findings of Kiev Institute of Forensic Examinations indicate that the statements of Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on Crimea contain clear signs of the violation of international law.

KIEV, March 18 – Parliament has supported a presidential draft resolution on appealing to the UN Security Council and the Council of the European Union to launch an international peacekeeping operation in Ukraine.

The decision was backed by 341 MPs on Tuesday.

KIEV, March 18 - Moscow reacted sharply after Ukraine agreed on Tuesday to confer special status on rebel-controlled eastern regions and grant them limited self-rule - but only once local elections had been held under Ukrainian law, something unpalatable for rebel leaders who have proclaimed their own "people's republics,” Reuters reported.

KIEV, March 16 – Germany will provide aid to Ukraine in the treatment of injured Ukrainian servicemen and Maidan participants both in Germany and in Ukraine.

KIEV, March 17 - Ukraine needs more bailout financing than currently promised to help jump-start the embattled nation’s economy, Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said Monday in an interview with The Wall Street Journal.

KIEV, March 18 – Ukraine will demonstrate flexibility when discussing the revision of conditions for the repayment of its foreign debt with holders of sovereign bonds, Ukrainian Finance Minister Natalie Jaresko said at the Center on the United States and Europe at the Brookings Institution on Tuesday, Voice of America has reported.

KIEV, March 17 – The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people has confirmed its recognition of Ukraine as a sovereign and independent state within its existing borders and strongly condemned an act of aggression on the part of the Russian Federation and a plan on the annexation of Crimea, considering these actions as a gross violation of international law and destabilizing the existing system of international relations.

KIEV, March 18 – The signature of the economic part of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU has been postponed to avoid negative consequences for the industrial regions in the east of the country, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk said.

KIEV, March 18 - Ukraine has strengthened frontier defenses with Russia following Moscow's seizure of Crimea but there is no sign of a major troop build-up in a region where some say they would welcome a Russian takeover, Reuters reported.

MOSCOW, March 18 - Defying Ukrainian protests and Western sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty in Moscow on Tuesday making Crimea part of Russia again, but said he did not plan to seize any other regions of Ukraine.