Ukraine

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV/SIMFEROPOL (BosNewsLife)-- The European Union and the United States have imposed wide ranging travel bans and asset freezes against dozens of officials from Russia and Ukraine who they blame for Russia's military incursion into Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. Monday's announcements follows a disputed referendum in Crimea where election officials said nearly 97 percent of voters decided to join Russia.

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 KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Ukraine has released what it says are intercepted phone calls in which pro-Russian separatists admit to shooting down a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane, killing all 298 people on board. The Boeing 777 went down in eastern Ukraine while on its way from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur. Most of the victims, 293 according to Dutch officials, came from the Netherlands.

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.

By Stefan J. Bos, Chief International Correspondent BosNewsLife KYIV, UKRAINE (BosNewsLife)-- Devoted Christian leaders and missionaries have pleaded for prayers and reconciliation in Ukraine where at least three anti-government demonstrators have been killed in the capital Kyiv during clashes with riot police.