As it happened : Kyiv and Moscow reach agreement on de-escalation roadmap

Pro-Russian separatists attacked a base of the Ukrainian national guard in an eastern city overnight and Kiev said three of the militants were killed, bloodshed likely to overshadow crisis talks in Geneva.Ukrainian, Russian and Western diplomats arrived for the emergency talks in Switzerland, but there was little hope of any progress in resolving a crisis that has seen armed pro-Russian fighters seize whole swathes of Ukraine.President Vladimir Putin, who overturned decades of post-Cold War diplomacy last month by declaring Russia’s right to intervene in neighbouring countries and annexing Ukraine’s Crimea region, refused Western claims of a Russian intervention in Eastern Ukraine as “rubbish” at an annual televised question and answer session. Putin said Ukraine’s decision to send armed forces into eastern Ukraine instead of trying to establish a dialogue with the Russian-speaking population there was a “grave crime.”In a televised call-in with the nation, Putin said also crisis talks being held in Geneva were “very important” and urged the government in Kiev to sit down to talks with Russian-speaking communities in the east of the country.The new deadly clashes in the port of Mariupol took place even as a modest Ukrainian military operation to recapture territory elsewhere from armed pro-Russian rebels ended in disarray, with troops surrendering rather than open fire.Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said an armed group of about 300 separatists attacked the national guard base in Mariupol with guns and petrol bombs. Three separatists were killed in shooting that followed and 13 were wounded, he said. No guardsmen were hurt.[View the story “Ukraine (LIVE): Nothing in Crimea was thought of in advance – Putin” on Storify]

As it happened : Kyiv and Moscow reach agreement on de-escalation roadmap

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