12:59
19.3.2014
U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite, and Latvian President Andris Berzins are holding a press conference following their meeting.
13:01
19.3.2014
Reuters quotes Ukrainian Navy Captain Oleksandr Balanyuk as he stands on the street with a bundle of his belongings after being forced to leave his headquarters in Sevastopol:
"There is nothing we can do against the crowd. Absolutely nothing. Everything is hectic and unruled. There were many promises from the Russian side and our side that the base will not be stormed, that all issues will be resolved politically. But as you see now, there was a takeover. No one was sorting out any politics here."
13:03
19.3.2014
The head of the EU delegation in Ukraine, Ambassador Jan Tombinski, draws attention to "serious human rights abuses" in Crimea over the past three weeks.
"Reported violations include enforced disappearances, ill-treatment and torture, violent attacks against journalists, restrictions to freedom of the media, freedom of movement and freedom of peaceful assembly."
Tombinski says Crimea is now "at the level of some of the world's most dangerous regions."
"Reported violations include enforced disappearances, ill-treatment and torture, violent attacks against journalists, restrictions to freedom of the media, freedom of movement and freedom of peaceful assembly."
Tombinski says Crimea is now "at the level of some of the world's most dangerous regions."
13:08
19.3.2014
Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite calls Russia's actions in Crimea a "direct threat to our regional security" and says all measures must be taken to protect against threats.
13:09
19.3.2014
At the same press conference in Vilnius, U.S. President Joe Biden says Russia is on a "dark path" to isolation, says "we will respond to any aggression" against NATO allies.
13:10
19.3.2014
A spokesman for Russian forces in Crimea confirms that the commander of the Ukrainian Navy, Admiral Serhiy Hayduk, has been detained. Hayduk was earlier seen leaving the base and reports said he was then driven away by officers of Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB).
13:16
19.3.2014
In Vilnius, Biden also said U.S. President Barack Obama would want to use an upcoming NATO summit in Wales to ensure members can meet Article 5 collective-defense commitments.
13:25
19.3.2014
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry doesn't confirm to RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that Admiral Serhiy Hayduk, commander of the navy, is in Russian hands, but does acknowledge that Kyiv is trying to determine his whereabouts.
Міноборони з’ясовує місце перебування командувача ВМС України Сергія Гайдука http://t.co/3vTceS3kdt
— Радіо Свобода (@radiosvoboda) March 19, 2014
13:26
19.3.2014
"Hancuffed and a bag over the head." RFE/RL Ukrainian Service correspondent Levko Stek recounts his brief kidnapping by a group of armed men in Crimea.
У наручниках і з мішком на голові – бахчисарайські будні. про своє викрадення розповів журналіст Радіо Свобода http://t.co/PChZsJYKbq
— Радіо Свобода (@radiosvoboda) March 19, 2014
13:32
19.3.2014
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier calls in Berlin for a quick mandate for a mission of OSCE observers to Ukraine, saying: "We need an observer mission now and in my conversations this morning I said agreement on a mandate must take place within the next 24 hours. That way, the first observers -- among them also 20 Germans who could leave tomorrow -- could start immediately tomorrow."
He adds that "it makes no sense to send an observer mission the week after the next or next month."
He adds that "it makes no sense to send an observer mission the week after the next or next month."