CIS (ex-USSR)

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent KIEV/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- One year after the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia, Ukrainian Christians say they are still facing persecution there by pro-Russian separatists who already killed several believers.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife MOSCOW/KYIV/BUDAPEST (BosNewsLife)-- Russian President Vladimir Putin has recognized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula as an independent state and says approving the region's entry into the Russian Federation makes sense.

Listen to the BosNewsLife News story via Vatican Radio:   By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)--Ukraine's parliament has voted to oust President Viktor Yanukovych after the leader said he would not step down and described events in Kiev as a coup. Legislators also agreed to release opposition leader and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KIEV , UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- A town in eastern Ukraine has came under heavy shelling by pro-Russian seperatists,  a day after the Russian and Ukrainian leaders met in Belarus, to discuss the escalating crisis in east Ukraine.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife MOSCOW/STOCKHOLM (BosNewsLife)-- Ukraine is celebrating after it won the Eurovision Song Contest with an emotionally charged song about Soviet Union leader Josef Stalin's deportation in 1944 of nearly a quarter of a million Crimean Tatars. Yet the song by Susana Jamaladinova, a 32-year-old trained opera singer who uses the stage name Jamala, has angered critics in Russia, which came in third after Australia.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Fighting raged Sunday in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk despite a request from the pro-Russian separatists for a cease-fire to prevent what they called a "humanitarian catastrophe." At least one person was killed and 10 injured in the latest shelling that started early Sunday and continued throughout the day, officials said.

Listen to this BosNewsLife News report via Vatican Radio:  By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV/BUDAPEST (Vatican Radio)-- A tense calm has returned to the streets of Ukraine's capital Kyiv's following clashes between pro and anti-government demonstrators. It comes at a time when protesters are remembering those who died in more than two months of unrest.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- The influential Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Kyiv Patriarchate) says it has removed prayers for the government from its liturgy, after as many as 100 people died when a truce broke down between security forces and anti-government protesters.Thursday's clashes came while European Union ministers attempted to talk with the embattled president Viktor Yanukovich.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KIEV/AMSTERDAM (BosNewsLife)-- The Netherlands has commemorated the nearly 300 people who died on board a Malaysia Airlines plane which was shot down over eastern Ukraine earlier this year. Flags flew at half-mast at government buildings as the nation united to remember one of the worst disasters in modern Dutch history.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Officials say heavy fighting between government forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine has forced hundreds of Ukrainian army soldiers to cross into Russia. Kiev says it will pressure Moscow to get them back.