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4 Mar 2014

Ukraine crisis: live updates

Live updates from Channel 4 News and our team of journalists on the ground in Ukraine as a revolution in the former Soviet country sparks the threat of war with Russia.

Ukraine

– Crimea referendum on 16 March (6 March)
– Guns fired at Belbek standoff between Russian and Ukrainian troops (4 March)
– Ukraine’s top naval commander defects to Russia (2 March)
– Putin gets Russian parliament backing to invade Ukraine (1 March)
– Armed men seize control of Crimea airports (28 Feb)
– Armed men seize Crimea’s regional government HQ (27 Feb)
– Ukraine leadership announces Yanukovych is wanted for “mass murder” (24 Feb)
– Ousted president Yanukovych reported to be trying to “flee” Russia (22 Feb)

7 March

Russia and the US are stuck in a stalemate over Ukraine – but relations between the two countries should not be sacrificed, President Vladimir Putin says after speaking to Barack Obama by phone.

Ukrainian paralympic chief, Valeriy Sushkevich, says his team would pull out of the winter games if Russian troops invaded Ukraine.

6 March

MPs in Crimea vote to hold a referendum on 16 March on whether or not their region should become part of the Russian federation. President Obama says the referendum would violate the Ukrainian constitution and international law.

Polish media report the United States is to send 12 F-16 fighter jets to Poland for a training exercise.

A second Russia Today (RT) presenter declares her opposition to Russian actions in Ukraine. Liz Wahl, who is based at RT’s Washington bureau, announces her resignation on air because “I cannot be part of a network funded by the Russian government that whitewashes the actions of Putin”.

5 March

At a meeting of foreign ministers in Paris to discuss the situation in Syria and Lebanon, Russia’s Sergei Lavrov refuses to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, despite urgings from US Secretary of State John Kerry and William Hague, the British foreign secretary.

The war for hearts and minds – both inside and outside Russia and Ukraine – steps up. The Russia Today (RT) television channel posts a video containing what it says is a recording of a leaked phone conversation between EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Urmas Paet, Estonia’s foreign minister. They are heard to discuss the possibility that the snipers who shot protesters in Kiev at the height of the Maidan protests had been hired by opposition leaders and not the government of ousted President Yanukoych.

RT anchor Abby Martin speaks out against Russia’s actions in Ukraine, telling viewers: “I will not sit here and apologise or defend military aggression.” And the internet and mobile phone connections of MPs in Crimea are hit as Russian forces seize control of airfields and key installations in the region.

4 March

Vladimir Putin makes his first press conference since the ousting of Viktor Yanukovych a week earlier. He says that Russia is on a “humanitarian mission” in Crimea, that there has been a “coup d’etat” in Ukraine, and that western threats of sanctions are “counterproductive and harmful”.

At the Belbek airbase, Ukrainian and Russian soldiers face-off in a tense encounter. International Editor Lindsey Hilsum was at the airbase.


William Hague made a statement in the House of Commons condemning Russia’s actions and saying it is important that there is a “clear response”.

3 March

As a war of words rages between the west and Russia, International Editor Lindsey Hilsum head to a besieged Ukrainian base in Crimea, where she did not receive a warm reception.

There were reports that the Ukrainian military had been issued an ultimatum by Russia’s Black Sea fleet – but these reports were dismissed as “utter nonsense” by the Russian ministry of defence. Channel 4 News Chief Correspondent Alex Thomson queried why Vladimir Putin and Russian were being painted as the “bad guys” in the Ukrainian crisis.

2 March

As Russian troops surround military outposts in Crimea, there are standoffs between Ukrainian and Russian soldiers. But the stand-offs are not just between soldiers, as International Editor Lindsey Hilsum reports, but also between locals. Ukraine’s top naval commander defects to the Russians, and is promptly fired.

  On the international stage, John Kerry accuses Russia of behaving like an “19th century power” and David Cameron announces that British ministers will not attend the Sochi Paralympic Games in protest. Culture and Digital Editor Paul Mason explored if the Russian invasion would push the west into an “economic war”.

1 March

Ukraine’s government puts its army on “full combat alert” and says a Russian invasion would lead to war. Cameras capture armed soldiers breaking into the Simferopol parliament in Crimea.

Vladimir Putin gets the backing of Russia’s parliament to invade Ukraine.

28 February

Ukraine’s interior ministry accuses Russia of an armed invasion after armed men seize control of airports in Crimea. Barack Obama says the US is “deeply concerned” about events in Ukraine, but that Russia can “play a part”. Meanwhile, ousted President Yanukovych emerges in Russia to give a press confwerence in which he asserts he is still the legitimate president of Ukraine, that he had not ordered riot police to fire on protesters, and that he will return to Ukraine “once it is safe to do so”.

27 February

Armed men seize the regional government headquarters in Crimea, Russian fighter jets are part on “combat alert”, and Russia guarantees the safety of ousted President Viktor Yanukovych.

26 February

In Kiev, the interim government is formed and meets the people gathered in Independence Square. Meanwhile, Channel 4 news cameraman Soren Munk’s pictures showed Ukraine’s revolt from the traditionally more pro-Russian east to the pro-EU west. You can see the pictures here. 04_sorenpic_w

25 February

The deadline for building an interim Ukrainian government arrives, and is not met. Europe Editor Matt Frei reports from Kiev on the “horse-trading” taking place between the different political parties.

 

24 February

Ukraine’s new leadership announces that the ousted President Viktor Yanukovich is wanted for “mass murder”.

Russia accuses the new Ukrainian leadership of using “terrorist methods”.

With tensions increasing, Channel 4 News talks to Sir Andrew Wood, a former British ambassador to Russia, about the chances of a Russian invasion. He says the most likely form of direct Russian intervention would be in Crimea, where “they could stir up unrest and then send in people as protection.”

Channel 4 News Europe Editor Matt Frei was in a transformed Independence Square, lined with flowers for the fallen “heroes” of the Maidan protests. He took the opportunity to explain the roots of the uprising, and where it was likely to lead next.

23 February

Acting President Turchinov speaks on the stage during a rally in Independence Square in Kiev

Oleksander Turchinov (pictured, above) is appointed as the interim president of Ukraine. He is given until Tuesday to form a new parliament.

International Editor Lindsey Hilsum, reporting from Donetsk in the east of Ukraine, writes about the titushki – “uneducated thugs… who have disrupted Ukraine’s anti-government protests by beating up protesters or acting as agents provocateurs.”

22 February

Ukraine’s opposition MPs vote to oust President Viktor Yanukovych. Mr Yanukovych likens the “coup” to Nazis taking power in 1930s Germany. He is then reported to be trying to “flee” Russia.

Ukrainian people head to President Yanukovych’s luxury compound – where they find gold taps and a private zoo.

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