Politics and Governance

Internal Security News

• Ukraine's acting President and Parliament Speaker Oleksandr Turchynov said the situation in Mariupol has stabilized. Turchynov said the military operation in the eastern regions of the country continues, adding that "the situation is more or less stable in the northern part of the Luhansk region."
   
• (RIA Novosti) The Ukrainian army began an artillery bombardment of the eastern city of Sloviansk following the referendum. Casualties were reported on May 12 following the shelling of a village near Sloviansk by Ukrainian troops. On May 11, the government in Kyiv announced the final phase of its “anti-terrorist” operation, with the Interior Ministry claiming to have razed roadblocks near Andreevka, as well as near other flashpoint cities in the southeast.
   
• Self-proclaimed “People’s Governor” of Donetsk Pavel Gubarev accused Ukraine’s richest man, Rinat Akhmetov, of financing separatism in eastern Ukraine. Akhmetov denied the accusation. 
   

International Observation News

• (Interfax Ukraine) OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss President Didier Burkhalter condemned the referendums held in Donetsk and Luhansk regions of Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) OSCE Chairman Didier Burkhalter said that the organization would send 1,000 observers to the Ukrainian presidential election on May 25; this represents the largest observation mission in the OSCE’s history. 
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The OSCE decided to appoint German Diplomat Wolfgang Ischinger as its negotiator on maintaining the dialogue in Ukraine.
   
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande stated that the OSCE should collect illegal weapons in Ukraine and observe the scheduled May 25 presidential election.
   
• During a May 9 call with U.S. Secretary of State Kerry, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov called for urgent dialog, mediated by the OSCE, between Kiev and south-eastern regions of Ukraine.
   

Constitutional Reform News 

• (Interfax Ukraine) The Luhansk Regional Council demanded the immediate federalization of Ukraine following the results of the referendum on May 11. 
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Petro Symonenko, leader of the Ukrainian Communist Party, called on the parliament to immediately discuss the issue of changing the country's state system.
   
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande urged the Ukrainian government to move ahead with a Ukrainian constitutional reform plan that would ensure minority rights and open the door to decentralizing the government. The Kyiv government should make public their plans for constitutional reform "in the coming days." 
   

Diplomacy News

• The European Commission planned to meet the Ukrainian Government led by Prime Minister Yatsenyuk on May 13 in Brussels. 
   
• The foreign ministers of the EU member states do not recognize the outcome of the referendums in Donetsk and Luhansk regions, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton said.
   
• The ministers of the Council of the European Union support a swift convening of a next meeting on Ukraine at the ministerial level in the Geneva format, the Council said in conclusions on Ukraine adopted on May 12.
   
• The European Union agreed to impose sanctions on two Crimean companies and 13 more Russian and Ukrainian companies.
   
• German FM Steinmeier intended to fly to Kyiv on May 13 to encourage dialog. 
   
• Russian FM Sergei Lavrov accused Washington and Kyiv of unwillingness to disclose the OSCE roadmap targeting a dialogue between Kyiv and Ukrainian regions, including the southeast.
   
• (RIA Novosti) A Kremlin spokesman stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin will formulate his opinion towards the referendums held on May 11 after their official results are made public, declaring Putin’s reaction “difficult to forecast” and stating that although Putin recommended that the referendum be postponed, “amid real battle actions being held, citizens were forced to act in line with their own plan and judge from the situation.”
   
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov ruled out new international talks on Ukraine and said that progress in de-escalating the crisis was possible only if the rival sides in Ukraine held direct talks.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) NATO was ready to take further "defensive measures" on its eastern borders should the situation in Ukraine escalate. 
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) In an interview with Interfax Ukraine, NATO chief Rasmussen stated that, “From a strategic point of view, I do believe that it will be mutually beneficial if Ukraine signs [an association agreement]. And at the end of the day, it will also be beneficial for Russia. This is not what we call a zero sum game. On the contrary - this is a win-win situation, from which Russia, Ukraine the EU and NATO will all gain.”
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian FM Lavrov called on foreign ambassadors to Russia to report to their capitals the real situation in Ukraine. "In Ukraine, the Russian channels are blocked…. But ambassadors in Moscow see live Russian television, and should bring to the attention of their respective governments the truth about what is happening in Ukraine.”
   
• German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande urged the Kyiv government to make concessions to the pro-Russian population in Ukraine even as they declared the independence referendum in the country's east illegal and warned of further sanctions against Russia should Ukraine’s planned elections not proceed on May 25.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Representatives of the European Commission refused to attend a conference on Russian-EU energy cooperation scheduled for May 14 in Brussels. 
   
• Russian Deputy PM Rogozin, one of the senior Russian officials sanctioned by the European Union and United States after Moscow moved to annex Crimea, was barred from Romanian airspace when his plane tried to fly to Moscow from Moldova's breakaway Transdniestria region. Rogozin was also stopped from leaving Moldova with a petition calling on Moscow to recognize the separatist region, but he claimed he had delivered most of the signatures supporting it. Moscow could reconsider its economic ties with Chisinau if Moldova signs an association agreement with the European Union, Rogozin said in an interview.
   
• A French diplomatic source stated that France will press ahead with a 1.2 billion-euro ($1.66 billion) contract to sell helicopter carriers to Russia because cancelling the deal would do more damage to Paris than to Moscow.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel stated during an interview that the U.S. is “not at war with Russia, so do you define an enemy as being at war or not at war?" However, he asserted that Russia is "an adversary in Ukraine” and continuing to “isolate itself for a short-term gain.”
   

Governance News

• Referendums were held as planned in Donetsk and Luhansk. Many reports cited a disorderly process, accounts of individuals voting more than once, and “ballot-stuffing, manipulation, and intimidation.” 
   
• Separatist leader in Donetsk Denis Pushilin declared that the region was not only independent, but also would ask to join Russia.
   
• Ukrainian media reported that a group of armed rebels were captured in Donetsk on May 10 and were in possession of 100,000 ballots already marked with a ‘yes’ vote for the May 11 referendum. ITAR-TASS claimed that Ukrainian troops blocked the delivery of ballots in some areas.
   
• Ukrainian President Oleksander Turchynov condemned the unofficial self-rule referendum in eastern regions as a farce inspired by Russia to destabilize Ukraine and topple the country's leaders in Kyiv.
   
• Separatist election officials reported 89 percent for seceding and 10 percent against doing so in Donetsk Oblast. 
   
• (RIA Novosti) In Luhansk Oblast, Oleksandr Malykhin, a separatist referendum official, said that between 94 and 98 percent of eligible voters voted for greater autonomy from Kyiv.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The Verkhovna Rada was set to discuss a "peaceful settlement of the situation in the east of the country" on May 14, according to President Turchynov. He also indicated that a meeting may take place with members of the public, including those from the Donetsk and Luhansk areas. 
   
• "Moscow respects the will of the population of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, and hopes that the practical implementation of the outcome of the referendums will proceed along civilized lines, without repeat outbreaks of violence," the Kremlin said in a statement.
   
• Presidential candidate and independent parliamentarian Petro Poroshenko backed the Ukrainian government's proposal to hold a nationwide roundtable. Poroshenko also stated that it was a mistake for Ukraine to have given up its nuclear weapons after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

As part of the ongoing U.S.-China High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue, organized by the EastWest Institute in partnership with the International Department of the Communist Party of China (CPC), a delegation of CPC senior officials met with U.S. Democratic and Republican Party leaders as well as current and former U.S. officials in Washington, D.C. and New Jersey on May 5-7, 2014.

The delegation, participating in the seventh U.S.-China High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue, was led by Wang Jiarui, vice chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the minister of the International Department of the CPC’s Central Committee (IDCPC). The U.S. delegation was headed by Edward G. Rendell, former general chair of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) and former governor of Pennsylvania, and Robert M. Duncan, former chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC). The sitting party officers on the U.S. delegation included DNC Vice Chair and U.S. Representative Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI), DNC treasurer Andrew Tobias and RNC treasurer Anthony W. Parker.

Dialogue sessions highlighted the measures that the CPC has taken to implement the reform plan outlined last November at the Third Plenary Session of the 18th CPC Central Committee, as well as the upcoming U.S. midterm elections and their implications for the 2016 presidential elections. The delegates also discussed President Obama’s recent visit to Asia and the effects of U.S. and Chinese domestic politics on U.S.-China relations. In addition, the CPC delegation met with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in Washington, D.C., former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger in New York and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at the governor’s official residence in Princeton, New Jersey. The delegation also visited the headquarters of Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, New Jersey and discussed healthcare reform in the U.S. and China with the company’s senior executives.

The U.S.-China High-Level Political Party Leaders Dialogue seeks to build understanding and trust between political elites from the United States and China through an exchange of views on governance and foreign policy issues. Six previous rounds of dialogue have been held since its launch in 2010.

“The Dialogue bears great significance for a better mutual understanding of each other’s culture and governance structure. It also plays an irreplaceable role in promoting the state-to-state relations,” said the International Department of the Central Committee of the CPC in a press release on the event. 

English and Chinese media coverage of the event included:

“Wang Jiarui attends and addresses the 7th China-US High-Level Leaders Dialogue in the U.S.,”
IDCPC, 5 May 2014

“Governor Chris Christie Participates In EastWest Institute Party Official Dialogue,” State of New Jersey – Office of the Governor, 7 May 2014

Read the full event report here. 

Internal Security News

• At least 21 people died in clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in the eastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol (Donetsk), according to Interior Minister Arsen Avakov. Reports indicated that the police station was burnt to the ground, and a Ukrainian brigade commander was killed by a pro-Russian sniper. The police chief of Mariupol was abducted by militants.
   
• More than 100 armed separatists surrounded the residence of government troops in Donetsk and fired some shots at the building, which holds 120 soldiers.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian media quoted the leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic as claiming Ukrainian troops “opened fire on civilians” in Mariupol.
   
• Chemical factories Stirol and Azot, based in Ukraine’s two eastern oblasts, where Kremlin-backed separatist violence is high, said that they would temporarily suspend production until the situatlon settles down.

International Observation News

• (ITAR-TASS) The Russian Foreign Ministry alleged that Kiev has essentially jeopardized the OSCE efforts to launch an inclusive dialogue in Ukraine.

Diplomacy News

• Russian President Putin made his first visit to Crimea since the region’s annexation, arriving to take part in Victory Day celebrations. Putin hailed the return of Crimea to Russia as the restoration of "historic justice". The government in Kiev called the visit a “gross violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty.”
   
• Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin took part in ceremonies in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniestr to mark the anniversary of the end of World War II. Rogozin, the Russian president's special representative for Transdniestr, said that Russia would do everything possible to guarantee the security of the self-declared republic.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry had a telephone call in which Lavrov urged the U.S. to influence Kiev authorities by encouraging them to de-escalate the situation and create conditions for direct and equal dialogue with representatives of the southeastern regions.
• (RIA Novosti) Putin’s visit was met with criticism from world leaders, including the White Hosue and NATO Secretary General Rasmussen, who called it "inappropriate," adding: "we consider the Russian annexation of Crimea to be illegal, illegitimate and we don't recognize it."
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) EU foreign ministers will consider the issue of expanding criteria for a second phase of sanctions against those who are involved in confiscating Ukrainian property in Crimea, a high-ranking European diplomat said.
   
• French President Francois Hollande arrived in Germany for two days of talks with Chancellor Angela Merkel, during which the Ukraine crisis will figure prominently.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) A poll conducted by the Pew Research Center concluded that 83% of Russian citizens are confident that President Putin is doing the right thing in world affairs.
   
• Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he suspects Moscow is planning some form of "skirmish" to discredit Kiev when the country celebrates Victory Day, based on Putin’s remarks.

Governance News

• (Interfax Ukraine) President Turchynov and PM Yatsenyuk issued a joint statement announcing that Ukrainian leadership is initiating all-Ukrainian national unity roundtables with the participation of political forces from all regions, as well as public and scientific circles.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office opened a case against two deputies of the Verkhovna Rada under suspicion of "rigged vote counting" during the plenary session of Parliament on January 16.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The U.S. expressed its support for the Ukrainian national unity roundtable initiative.
   
• The governor appointed by the "Donetsk People's Republic," Denis Pushilin, predicted a "good result" for the May 11 secession referendum.

International Security News: 

• Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Parubiy announced that anti-terrorist operations in the east will continue regardless of any decision made by representatives of the "Donetsk People's Republic" concerning their referendum, set for May 11.

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian media reported that the representative of Svoboda Party leader and presidential candidate Oleh Tiahnybok was kidnapped by armed men from his home in Makiyivka (Donetsk). 

• (Interfax Ukraine) The body of Valeriy Salo, the head of Donetsk’s Prosvita All-Ukrainian Society branch, was found in a burned car in Luhansk. Salo had been kidnapped by armed representatives of the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’. 

• (ITAR-TASS) The Ukrainian State Administration of Railway Transport announced that international trains will only stop at the major stations in Ukraine due to “an unstable situation in the country and to prevent unauthorized interference in rail transport.”

• (RIA Novosti) Ukraine's security forces will fire at anyone with weapons in their hands, according to the country's Ministry of Internal Affairs. 

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council Secretary Andriy Parubiy said that gunmen attacked a border unit between the Luhansk and Donetsk regions.

Internal Observation News: 

• (ITAR-TASS) Lamberto Zannier, Secretary General of the OSCE, arrived in Kiev for meetings with Ukrainian government representatives. 

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukraine received a roadmap from the Swiss chairmanship of the OSCE on resolving its crisis. Ukrainian leaders are reviewing the document before providing a response. 

• (ITAR-TASS) Russia’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement calling on the UN and the OSCE to condemn the Ukrainian government’s treatment of journalists. 

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian Prime Minister Yatsenyuk said he hopes that the OSCE will support the roadmap to resolve the Ukrainian crisis proposed by Kiev.

Constitutional Reform News: 

• Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk said he will propose envisaging the right of local councils to grant official status to Russian and other languages, leaving Ukrainian as a sole state language.

Diplomacy News: 

• (Interfax Ukraine) The EU said that a May 11 referendum in eastern Ukraine is illegal, will lead to further escalation of the situation, and should not be held.

• (RIA Novosti) The Kremlin said it is going to take time to analyze the situation in Ukraine after separatists in southeastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk decided to move forward with autonomy referendums.

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk expressed surprise that the Ukrainian crisis was actively discussed at a meeting between the presidents of Russia and Switzerland, without representatives of Ukraine, the U.S., or the EU.

• (RIA Novosti) Russian strategic offensive and defensive forces are prepared and proficient, President Putin said after overseeing a routine drill of the country’s armed forces.

• (RIA Novosti) Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko suggested to Russian President Vladimir Putin that the two countries could coordinate joint activities.

• (Interfax Ukraine) The Ukrainian Border Service announced Russian troops and hardware maneuvering are still visible along the border.

• German Foreign Minister Steinmeier said Russian President Vladimir Putin's newly "constructive tone" could provide new momentum for a diplomatic solution.

• (RIA Novosti) President Putin convened an urgent meeting with the country's security council to discuss Ukraine in the context of his talk with OSCE Chairman Burkhalter. 

• (ITAR-TASS) President Putin cited “irresponsible policy” as the main reason for the Ukraine crisis, stating that as a result, hundreds of thousands of people are unable to live a peaceful and prosperous life.

• -    (ITAR-TASS) NATO Secretary General Rasmussen said that NATO is not considering the possibility of providing military aid to Ukraine, but urged Moscow to withdraw its troops from the border, stating that “the international community supports Ukraine.”

Governance New: 

• -    Pro-Russian separatists decided to go ahead with the May 11 referendum, despite President Putin’s call for its postponement. 

• -    A Pew Research Center poll revealed that a strong majority of Ukrainians want their country to remain a single, unified state, even in the largely Russian-speaking east where a pro-Russian insurgency persists.

• (Interfax Ukraine) Forty percent of Ukrainians stand for negotiations with separatist protesters and 35% support the military crackdown, according to a poll conducted by the Rating sociological group.

• (ITAR-TASS) The Verkhovna Rada registered a draft resolution prohibiting Russian citizens from entering Ukraine.

• (RIA Novosti) Ukraine's authorities are ready to talk to representatives of local self-procliamed governments, and activists in regions demanding decentralization, President Oleksander Turchynov said.

• (RIA Novosti) Pro-Russian activists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic said they are open for talks with Kiev, but fear the regime will deceive them.

• The press service of national joint-stock company Naftogaz Ukrainy announced that a delegation of the European Commission visited Kiev in late April to discuss reform plans, efforts to fully integrate with the European energy market, and the start of accumulating natural gas stocks at Ukrainian underground storage facilities.

• (ITAR-TASS) President Yatsenyuk announced that Ukraine is ready to pay off debts for Russian gas within ten days if its cost is set at $268.5 per 1 thousand cubic meters.

• Ukraine's national budget could fall short of Hr 1.5 billion in taxes and duties due to the situation in its southeast region, according to First Deputy Income and Tax Minister Ihor Bilous.

• Presidential candidate and Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko said that Ukraine is not going to accept any ultimatums from Russia, and believes the unconditional implementation of agreements reached in Geneva are the terms of possible negotiations.

Internal Security News

• (Interfax Ukraine) The Ukrainian Security Service said that 14 servicemen have died and 66 have been injured since special operations began in eastern Ukraine.
   
• A spokeswoman for the militants claimed that five pro-Russians were killed when Ukrainian troops stormed a barricade in Mariupol.
   
• Ukrainian forces seized the rebel-held city hall in Mariupol, driving out pro-Russian activists before withdrawing, with no attempt to hold the building. Pro-Russian militants subsequently re-occupied the building.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Kiev City State Administration is negotiating with the Party of Regions, communists, and the All-Military Union, which intend to stage events on May 9 in order to rule out possible provocation.

International Observation News

• The OSCE offered to set up a fund to finance the implementation of a proposed disarmament plan in Ukraine, OSCE Chairperson-in-Office Didier Burkhalter announced at a joint news conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
   
• OSCE Chairman Burkhalter said that the organization has no plans as of yet to hold the Geneva II conference for analyzing the fulfillment of earlier agreements in the Ukrainian peace process.
   
• Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he was ready to discuss a way out of the Ukrainian crisis with the head of the OSCE.

Constitutional Reform News

• (Interfax Ukraine) Members of the Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers will hold negotiations with representatives of the Kharkiv region on Wednesday to discuss constitutional reform in Kharkiv, Ukraine's foreign minister Andriy Deschytsia said.

Diplomacy News

• Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia has withdrawn forces from its border with Ukraine, where NATO said there were approximately 40,000 Russian troops positioned. However, a NATO military official subsequently stated that NATO has no indication that Russia has withdrawn its forces from close to the Ukraine border despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's assertion that they had returned to their training areas.
   
• U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland said that should the Donetsk and Luhansk separatist referendum occur, and Russia follows up with recognition and deployment of forces, the actions will trigger sanctions on Russian’s finance, energy and defense sectors.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement urging Kiev's government to stop what it alleges to be human rights violations. “The condemnation by the high-ranking official from the UN’s Human Rights body, violence and tyranny in Ukraine confirms that the illegitimate Kiev authorities under the cover of their Western patrons are continuing gross violations of conventional legal norms,” the statement said.
   
• European Council President Van Rompuy said that the EU is open to holding more talks with Ukraine, Russia and the U.S. to try to defuse the Ukraine crisis.
   
• Russia suspended a 2001 agreement on mutual military inspections with Lithuania amid growing worries in the Baltic region over Moscow's assertiveness in Ukraine.
   
• A spokeswoman for German Chancellor Merkel’s office stated that Germany is involved in international efforts to stop an escalation of the Ukraine crisis and plan a follow-up process to April’s Geneva agreement.
   
• Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe said that Japan will send ten observers to help oversee Ukraine’s presidential elections scheduled for May 25.
   
• The United Kingdom will pressure Russia into fulfilling the Geneva commitments, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs William Hague said at a press conference in Kiev.

Governance News

• President Putin urged that a planned May 11 referendum on autonomy for southeast Ukraine be postponed.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The government of the self-proclaimed People’s Republic of Donetsk intended to hold a May 8 vote to determine whether or not they will postpone the planned May 11 referendum.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) German FM spokesman Martin Schaefer said that Germany will not recognize the May 11 referendum.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Ukrainian presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko stated that in his opinion, "there is no legal basis" for a May 11 referendum on Donetsk’s status.
   
• President Putin said that Ukraine's May 25 presidential election is a step "in the right direction". However, he said the vote would decide nothing unless the rights of "all citizens" were protected.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) All sides in the Geneva negotiations must recognize Ukraine's right to hold presidential elections, British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs William Hague said at Kiev press conference.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Presidential candidate Yulia Tymoshenko met with British Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs William Hague to discuss the Ukrainian situation and the upcoming presidential election. Tymoshenko stressed the election’s importance, and the need for the expression of will by Ukrainian citizens, including eastern and southern region residents.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Interregional Council of Territorial Communities of Southeast Ukraine plans to hold a congress of representatives from territorial communities in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhia, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odessa, and Mykolaiv regions in Dnipropetrovsk on May 11.
   
• Unaffiliated presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko maintained the highest presidential electoral rating among all candidates, followed by Batkivschyna Party leader Yulia Tymoshenko and parliamentarian Sergiy Tigipko.

See the full clip here on CCTV America. 

Internal Security News

• Donetsk authorities reported 8 dead and 16 injured in Sloviansk.
   
• 24 individuals remained hostages in Donetsk.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian media reported that 48 people remained unaccounted for following an Odessa fire on May 2. Additionally, approximately 20 bodies remained unidentified out of the 46 recovered.
   
• Militants imposed a curfew in Konstantinovka (Donetsk), and reportedly refused entry to vehicles. A similar curfew was in place in Sloviansk where heavy fighting took place.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukraine’s State Aviation Service temporarily closed the Donetsk airport, before abolishing the resolution to suspend flights later in the day.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Verkhovna Rada supported assigning combatant status to people involved in eastern Ukraine’s anti-terrorist operations.
   
• Speaking to journalists in the Verkhovna Rada, billionaire presidential candidate Petro Poroshenko said there was evidence that toxic chemicals were used in the Odessa fire.

International Observation News

• UN Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs Jeffry Feltman is scheduled to visit Ukraine from May 7-8. According to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, the visit was initiated by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to assist with a diplomatic settlement.
   
• (RIA Novosti) A senior Russian diplomat called on UN officials to be as impartial as possible while assessing ongoing events in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian President Vladimir Putin is slated to discuss the Ukrainian crisis with Swiss President Didier Burkhalter, current Chairman-in-Office of the OSCE, on May 7.

Constitutional Reform News

• (Interfax Ukraine) The Verkhovna Rada did not back the idea of holding a referendum on decentralization on May 25. The decision resulted from a closed-door session. "It needs to be held, but not during a war…. a referendum cannot be held at a gunpoint," parliamentarian Oleksandr Bryhynets wrote on Facebook.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Verkhovna Rada will hold the first vote on a bill amending the Ukrainian constitution in May, and the bill should be adopted by October or November, Deputy Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroisman told journalists.

Diplomacy News

• Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov ruled out holding fresh talks in Geneva to defuse the crisis, unless pro-Russian opposition groups are involved.
   
• The Russian Foreign Ministry released its White Book on Violations of Human Rights and Rule of Law in Ukraine. The report was presented to President Putin and alleged “widespread and gross violations of human rights and freedoms on the part of the self-proclaimed government and its supporters.”
   
• The Foreign Ministers of Ukraine and Russia were scheduled to meet in Vienna for a "working dinner" after a Council of Europe committee meeting on May 6.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Ukraine is willing to hold another round of Geneva talks “if Russia is ready to support elections and stop the threat,” said Ukrainian FM Andrei Deshchytsa.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) European Council President Herman Van Rompuy ruled out military intervention in Ukraine, stating that the EU should "use other tools" to help resolve the crisis.
   
• White House spokesman Jay Carney stated that the U.S. is prepared to escalate sanctions if necessary. “We have a wide range of tools available to us up to and including sectoral sanctions.  And should Russia take actions that we and our partners decide or view as meriting further escalation costs on Russia, then that's what we will do.  We will impose those costs.”

• Ukraine is close to war, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier warned in interviews published in four European newspapers.

• Foreign Minister Lavrov urged national dialogue in Ukraine as foreign ministers met in Vienna, Austria, in the latest international effort to rein in the spiraling crisis. Lavrov called on Kiev’s interim authorities to listen to opposition activists who want greater autonomy in Ukraine's south and east.

• Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said that Russian authorities should recognize the legitimacy of Ukraine’s presidential elections scheduled for May 25.

• (ITAR-TASS) Lavrov stated that the events in Odessa were a frank manifestation of fascism. He said the West is concealing the true causes, and that the investigation will eventually die off.

• A U.S. Air Force General stated that Russia had stepped up military activity in the Pacific as Ukraine tensions continue to rise.

Governance News  

• Foreign Minister Lavrov said it would be "unusual" to hold a presidential election in Ukraine while the army was being deployed against Ukrainians.
   
• Ukrainian President Turchynov dismissed the Odessa governor in response to the fire and violence that took place there.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The Party of Regions, Ukraine’s ruling party under ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, warned Kiev’s current authorities that Ukraine’s disintegration is becoming irreversible. The party, which draws most of its electoral support from rebel eastern and southeastern regions, laid the blame for mounting tensions on the “coup-imposed” government.