The leaders of Germany and France ended over five hours of “constructive talks” with Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, without any word of an agreement to resolve the crisis in Ukraine.

The leaders of Germany and France met Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko in a hastily arranged mission to bring an end to the accelerated fighting in the east of the country.

An attack on a passenger bus in eastern Ukraine has killed 11 people, likely dealing the final blow to hopes that a short-lived and shaky ceasefire could take hold.

There will be no G8 summit in Russia this year, the British Prime Minister David Cameron announced today.

There are reports this morning that Russian troops are trying to seize a Ukrainian naval base in Crimea.

Nato’s top military commander said Russia had a large force on Ukraine’s eastern border and that he was worried it could pose a threat to Moldova’s separatist Transdniestria region.