Ukraine's military accused Russia on Friday of sending a column of 32 tanks and truckloads of troops into the country's east to support pro-Russian separatists fighting government forces.
Ukraine's prime minister once said he and the emergency government which took power after pro-European protests in February were on a "suicide" mission, fated to take unpopular decisions that would cut short their political careers.
A memorial to Apple Inc founder Steve Jobs has been dismantled in the Russian city of St Petersburg after the man who succeeded him at the helm of the company, Tim Cook, came out as gay.
Pro-Russian separatists will vote to set up a breakaway regional leadership in eastern Ukraine on Sunday aiming to take their war-torn region closer to Russia and defying Kiev and the West as the big guns still boom across the territory.
The United States is mounting a diplomatic offensive to stop Hungary selling a stake in a Croatian energy firm to Russia, part of what Western powers see as Budapest's dangerous drift into Moscow's orbit.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin on the phone that Sunday's planned elections in eastern Ukraine were illegitimate and would not be recognized by European leaders, a Berlin government spokesman said on Friday.
NATO aircraft tracked Russian strategic bombers over the Atlantic and Black Sea on Wednesday and sorties of fighters over the Baltic in what the Western alliance called an unusual burst of activity at a tense time in East-West relations.
Pro-Western parties will dominate Ukraine's parliament after an election handed President Petro Poroshenko a mandate to end a separatist conflict and to steer the country further away from Russia's orbit towards mainstream Europe.
Out will go the bodyguards and mistresses, in are likely to come the street activists and war veterans: Ukraine's next parliament will be pro-Western and strongly nationalist, and it won't be to Russia's liking.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is guest of honor at a military parade in Belgrade on Thursday to mark 70 years since the city's liberation by the Red Army, a visit loaded with symbolism as Serbia walks a tightrope between the Europe it wants to join and a big-power ally it cannot leave behind.
Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott said on Monday that he would use an upcoming G20 leaders summit to confront Russian President Vladimir Putin over the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and the "murder" of Australian citizens.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said on Saturday he expected planned talks with Russia's President Vladimir Putin next week in Italy to be difficult but said Moscow had a crucial role to play in bringing peace to his country.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Russian troops to withdraw to their permanent bases after military exercises in Rostov region near the border with Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported late on Saturday, citing Kremlin spokesman.
On the first day of school outside the east Ukrainian rebel stronghold of Donetsk, 11th-grade teacher Yelena Sepik tells her class to get out of their seats to clap and sing along to the Soviet military music playing over the speakers.
The Russian parliament moved a step closer on Wednesday to adopting a law that would allow for foreign assets inside the country to be seized and for the state to pay compensation for the loss of property due to Western sanctions.
Ukrainian state prosecutors said on Tuesday they had opened a criminal investigation against a Russian law enforcement agency, accusing it of supporting separatist and "terrorist" groups in the east of the country.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has secured a temporary peace in the troubled east which he says gives him a chance to move Ukraine towards its dream of a place in Europe - but Russia's Vladimir Putin still holds cards that could thwart him.
Looking to put a patriotic spin on international sanctions over Ukraine, a local group is touring Moscow, urging passers-by to swap their Western-branded T-shirts for homegrown tops sporting pro-Russian slogans.
President Petro Poroshenko proclaimed reforms on Thursday spanning all aspects of life to make strife-torn Ukraine fit for European Union membership, warning his people that without reform they would face a future "alone with Russia."
Freed former tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky said in Berlin on Tuesday he had no intention of founding a new political party or standing in Russian elections, but wanted his "Open Russia" movement to support fundamental change.
President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Western sanctions against Russia violated the principles of the World Trade Organization and the main way to combat them was to develop the domestic market.
