Just in case anyone thought the temperature was not still at boiling point, this news out a few hours ago.
Two people have been killed in clashes between pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian activists in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv, officials say.Five people were injured overnight, as gunshots were fired. Rival groups blamed each other for the violence.
The violence reportedly began on Kharkiv’s Svoboda Square on Friday evening and later moved to an office of a pro-Ukrainian group in the city.
Eyewitnesses said that pro-Russian activists tried to storm the rival protesters, who had barricaded themselves in.The witnesses said that shots had been fired and Molotov cocktails thrown in.Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes was later quoted by Ukrainian media as saying that two people were killed and five injured.
Other developments:
- the UN Security Council is to vote today on a US-drafted resolution that defines Crimea’s referendum tomorrow as illegal
- US Vice-President Joe Biden will travel to Poland and Lithuania early next week to discuss ways to support Ukraine’s sovereignty, as well as Nato members’ reciprocal defence commitments
- The Pentagon says it will keep its aircraft carrier battle group in the Mediterranean Sea for several days longer than planned because of the Ukraine crisis
- Russia has moved a column of army trucks and a number of artillery pieces into northern Crimea, eyewitnesses say
- Ukrainian border guards begin checks on trains coming from Crimea into the rest of Ukraine
We’ll endeavour to keep you updated over the week-end with an eye of course on the opening prices as Monday gets underway down under.
