Russia’s foreign ministry said that a Ukrainian shell hit a Russian border town, killing one person and seriously injuring two others.

In another devastating blow to Ukraine’s armed forces, rebels shot down a troop helicopter, killing at least 12 soldiers.

The Kremlin has said Ukraine’s government should engage in a dialogue with the eastern parts of the country following the controversial referendums where about 90% of voters said they backed their regions’ sovereignty.

Some 90% of voters in a key industrial region in eastern Ukraine have come out in favour of sovereignty, pro-Russian insurgents said.

Ukraine has taken its first military action against a pro-Russian uprising in the east as government forces repelled about 30 gunmen at an airport, beginning what the president called an “anti-terrorist operation” to restore authority in the region.

Nearly 28 years ago, the Chernobyl disaster struck Ukraine. With the prospect of a Russian invasion looming, all sides should beware of atomic warfare, says Bennett Ramberg

Russian forces have been accused of “an armed invasion” after units blocked a Ukrainian military airport in the Black Sea port of Sevastopol in Crimea.

Anti-government protests in Ukraine’s capital escalated into fiery street battles as thousands of demonstrators hurled rocks and firebombs to set police vehicles ablaze. Dozens of officers and protesters were injured.

A police helicopter belonging to Ukraine’s Interior Ministry crashed shortly after take-off in the central part of the country, killing five people on board, officials said.

Former Ukrainian prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko’s appeal hearing against her seven-year jail sentence on abuse of office charges has been postponed yet again.

Ukraine’s pro-Russian parliamentary majority warned President Viktor Yushchenko today against dissolving parliament and calling new elections, threatening that the move could trigger a battle for power in this ex-Soviet republic.

Ukraine’s Central Election Commission tonight declared Western-leaning reformer Viktor Yushchenko the winner of the presidential election over Kremlin-favoured Viktor Yanukovych.

Ukraine’s top security service denied today that it had any involvement with the poisoning of opposition candidate Viktor Yushchenko (pictured), the leading candidate in Boxing Day’s rerun for the presidency.

Opposition leaders in Ukraine prepared today for a nationwide strike to protest the government’s decision to name Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych winner of a presidential election amid allegations of vote-rigging.

Ukraine today released what it called proof that one of their missiles was not to blame for bringing down a Russian airliner over the Black Sea.