U.S. President Barack Obama announced new sanctions against some Russians on Monday to stop President Vladimir Putin from fomenting the rebellion in eastern Ukraine, but said he was holding broader measures against Russia's economy "in reserve."

• April 28, 2014

Russia warned Kiev on Friday that it would face justice for a "bloody crime" in eastern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces killed up to five pro-Russian rebels a day earlier, while Washington said Moscow was running out of time to defuse the crisis before facing further sanctions.

• April 25, 2014

U.S. President Barack Obama is expected to speak to several European leaders on Friday to try to nudge the EU toward fresh sanctions against Russia over Ukraine, sources familiar with the matter said.

• April 25, 2014

China's defense ministry said on Thursday it will continue military patrols in waters near a tropical Japanese island close to Taiwan, days after Tokyo announced it would break ground on a new radar base in the area.

• April 24, 2014

Britain said on Tuesday Russia was using it status as an energy superpower to hold other countries to ransom and that a meeting of the G7 group of countries next month had to find a way to reduce dependence on Russian gas.

• April 22, 2014

At least three people were killed in a gunfight in the early hours of Sunday near a Ukrainian city controlled by pro-Russian separatists, shaking an already fragile international accord that was designed to avert a wider conflict.

• April 21, 2014

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused Ukraine on Monday of violating an accord reached in Geneva last week aimed at averting a wider conflict between the two neighbors.

• April 21, 2014

The sound of battles echoes from the outskirts of the capital as Christians in Damascus celebrated the Easter weekend, briefly ignoring the conflict for the yearly ritual.

• April 19, 2014