Ukraine News

Donetsk - A local politician whose mutilated body was found near a rebel-held town in east Ukraine suffered many knife wounds, his anguished widow said Wednesday after identifying his body.

Slavyansk - Vyacheslav Ponomaryov says he was running a soap factory when pro-Moscow separatists tapped him to lead them in the east Ukrainian town of Slavyansk.

Donetsk - On April 6, pro-Russian separatists first attacked public buildings in the east of Ukraine.

London - Western leaders should set aside their differences with Russia over Ukraine to focus on the growing threat of Islamic extremism, former British prime minister Tony Blair said on Wednesday.

Moscow - Russia on Wednesday accused the United States of controlling the actions of the pro-West Ukrainian government, saying that Washington was now "running the show" in Kiev.

Moscow - Russia will respond if its interests are attacked in Ukraine, as they were in South Ossetia in 2008 which led to war with Georgia, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Wednesday.

Washington - The United States is deploying 600 troops to Poland and the Baltics to highlight its commitment to NATO allies amid tensions with Russia over Ukraine, officials said Tuesday.

Kiev - Ukraine's acting president on Tuesday ordered a military operation against pro-Kremlin separatists resume, after two "brutally tortured" bodies were discovered in the restive east, one of whom was a kidnapped local councillor.

Moscow - Russia is ready to face a new round of Western sanctions over Ukraine, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said Tuesday."I am sure we will be able to minimise their consequences," he said in a televised speech to parliament.

- Russia issued a blunt warning Wednesday it would respond if its interests are attacked in Ukraine, as pro-Kremlin rebels in the restive east of the country braced for a new military offensive by Kiev.