Putin and Poroshenko Meet Briefly in Normandy

Merkel, Poroschenko and Putin in Normandy

Putin and President-elect Petro Poroshenko met informally with German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Friday in Normandy as a sideline to the D-Day events. 

​​French President Francois Hollande had personally invited Putin to the D-Day commemoration, in recognition of at least 20 million Soviets killed during World War II. Reuters, on Twitter, reported Hollande's office as saying Putin and Poroshenko shook hands.

French officials said that Putin and Poroshenko discussed a possible ceasefire between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists.

Russian news agencies reported that both leaders called for 'a speedy end to to the bloodshed in southeastern Ukraine and to the military actions of both sides - the Ukrainian armed forces and the supporters of the federalization of Ukraine.'

It is hoped that this informal contact between Putin and Poroshenko might help ease tensions between Russia and Ukraine after Russia's seizure and annexation the Crimea.

President Obama also met with Putin for about 15 minutes. Read a report of that meeting here.

Battle for Kramatorsk Over

3 May 2014, 05:18 -- The evening battle for Kramatorsk in Ukraine's southeast has ended, leaving one defender of the city dead and nine others wounded, RIA Novosti reports. According to the agency's source, the Ukrainian army column was unable to enter the city. Hostilities broke out in the Yasnogorka area on Friday evening. The Ukrainian armor column blocked by civilians the day defore, decided to go on a break. "They were afraid that we would take away their weapons or armored vehicles," said one of the locals. There is no information about the losses in the Ukrainian army yet.

During the battle in Kramatorsk civil alert sirens were turned on, which hadn't happened in the morning, during the fight in the city of Slavyansk, 12 km from Kramatorsk. Eyewitnesses also reported that Ukrainian soldiers captured one of the militia checkpoints between Slavyansk and Kramatorsk during the day. It is reported that there will be no public transportation between the cities and within Kramatorsk tomorrow. No buses will be provided for workers from local factories, even though they have a continuous cycle of production. People finishing the night shift will have to go home by foot.

One reportedly dead, 10 injured as pro-Kiev forces launch assault on Kramatorsk

After the evening battle near the entrance to the southeastern city of Kramatorsk Friday evening, the city hospital has reported 10 individuals have been wounded and one dead. Earlier it was reported that after the attack in Kramatorsk the number of injured and dead went into the dozens and they were taken to hospitals in Kramatorsk and Slavyansk. In an area between the two cities in Yasnogorki peaceful civilians blocked a column of between 10 and 14 armored military vehicles and other equipment.

After dark set in, they took action and began firing trace bullets from semi-automatic weapons.

"We received 10 injured with bullet wounds. There are seriously injured and some with lighter wounds. At least on woman (aged 36), an activist, is among them. Unfortunately, one died," doctors told RIA Novosti.

Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine stormed by pro-Kiev forces

Ukrainian armed units had begun storming positions of the self-defence force in the city of Kramatorsk, the Donetsk region, a Russia 24 television correspondent reported.

He said volunteers had told him about the assault and wounded people taken to hospitals. The volunteers had arrived at Kramatorsk hospitals to care for wounded people. The number was not known. Local residents helped render first aid to the wounded, the reporter said in a live broadcast.

The special operation also resumed in Slavyansk a few hours ago.

Source: Voice of Russia

International Observers reported "abducted" in Ukraine

The U.S. State Department is condemning the reported abduction of an international observer team and its Ukrainian escorts by armed gunmen in the town of Slovyansk.

'If true, we strongly condemn this action and call for their immediate release,' said State Department spokesperson Jen Psaki. 'Over the past week, we've unfortunately seen a rapid escalation in hostage takings by pro-Russian separatists. We condemn this repressive and cowardly tactic and call for the release of all hostages.'

Pro-Russian separatists say the group was detained because a Ukrainian military official was traveling with them.

'They are with us in Slovyansk,' Vyacheslav Ponomaryov, a pro-Russian separatist leader, told Reuters.

Read it all here.

US sending troops to Poland

The Obama administration is sending ground troops to Poland in response to Russia's moves in Ukraine, Poland’s defense minister, Tomasz Siemoniak, tells The Washington Post.

The move, he said, was agreed to as part of an expansion of the NATO presence in the region.

The New York Times, meanwhile, said the troops would participate in small exercises in Estonia as well as Poland.

The Poland exercise, which is to be announced next week, involves one U.S. Army company — about 150 soldiers — and would last about two weeks. The Estonia exercise is similar, said a Western official who declined to be identified, the Times reports.

Read it all here.

NATO Supreme Allied Commander on Ukraine

Further Russian intervention in Ukraine, following its annexation of Crimea, would be a "historic mistake" that would deepen Russia's international isolation, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said on Wednesday.

"If Russia were to intervene further in Ukraine, I wouldn't hesitate to call it an historic mistake. That would lead to further international isolation of Russia. It would have far reaching consequences for the relations between Russia and ... the Western world. It would be a miscalculation with huge strategic implications," he told a news conference after a meeting of alliance foreign ministers.

'Very ready force'

Russia has massed all the forces it needs on Ukraine's border if it were to decide to carry out an "incursion" into the country and it could achieve its objective 'in three to five days,' NATO's top military commander said on Wednesday.

"This is a very large and very capable and very ready force," said NATO's supreme allied commander in Europe, U.S. Air Force General Philip Breedlove, referring to the presence of an estimated 40,000 Russian troops on Ukraine's border.

Calling the situation "incredibly concerning", Breedlove said NATO had spotted signs of movement by a very small part of the Russian force overnight but had no indication that it was returning to barracks. ​​

Breedlove made his remarks an interview with Reuters and The Wall Street Journal.

Read it all here.