Up to 80 children were feared to be among the 295 passengers and crew who died after the Malaysian Airways plane was shot down over Ukraine yesterday afternoon.

Hundreds of people are feared dead after a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane was apparently shot down over eastern Ukraine.

The European Union is taking steps to increase sanctions against Russia over what many believe is a planned annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region.

Senior diplomats from the major players trying to find an end to the crisis in Ukraine are gathering in Paris.

American aid is on the way, John Kerry promised crowds in Kiev as he visited sites where more than 80 anti-government protesters were killed last month.

By Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent

KREMLINOLOGY was the well-respected skill of divining what was happening inside the secretive world of Moscow rule during the cold war.

Elton John’s plan to adopt a child from Ukraine could result in more youngsters being abandoned, a children’s charity warned today.

Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko today dismissed his Cabinet amid swirling allegations of corruption, saying members of the fragile coalition formed after last year’s Orange Revolution had turned on one another.

In a dramatic reversal, Ukraine’s parliament passed a vote of no-confidence in the government today, mustering three more votes than necessary to carry the motion.

An ally of presidential candidate Viktor Yushchenko said today that the opposition is ready to hold talks with President Leonid Kuchma only about the peaceful transfer of power to Yushchenko.

WITH world reaction deteriorating in the face of Iraq’s worsening security situation, it has become opportune for US President George W Bush to turn towards the United Nations for aid. And not before time.