A Ukrainian border patrol plane came under fire near the regional boundary with Crimea as tensions increased further in the contested peninsula yesterday.

With a handful of houses, a couple of shops and some crumbling Kruschev-era flats, the village of Lyubovnets, near the northern side of Sevastopol's bay, is not much to look at.

Ukraine is bracing for new pro-Russian protests in the tense eastern city of Donetsk after Moscow threatened to stop gas supplies to the country.

Russia's President is deserving of respect - the kind you would show if you were in close proximity to a hissing cobra, writes John Armstrong.

Crimea is now part of Russia; a referendum to endorse the decision would take place within 10 days; the only legitimate forces here are those of Vladimir Putin.

A former fighter pilot whose bold march against the Russian soldiers occupying his airbase was one of the most stunning acts of resistance in this phoney war.

An Auckland woman born in Ukraine says residents in her home country are ready to take up arms against Russian occupiers.

Parliament unanimously backed a motion from Foreign Minister Murray McCully expressing "deep concern" about the situation in the Ukraine.

Ukraine's former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko has appealed for the US and Britain to adopt the "strongest means" against Russia.

Ukraine is Europe's second-largest country, made up of wide, fertile agricultural plains and large pockets of heavy industry in the east.

They stood together with their arms linked: a priest, a former soldier, two housewives and a teacher.

The Russians have set the trap perfectly. Their prey is the Crimea.

The trouble in Ukraine has left NZ in a critical position as it vies for selection to the United Nations Security Council, an expert in international relations says.

Foreign Minister Murray McCully has added his voice to international calls for restraint any further escalation of tensions between Russia and Ukraine.

The task of controlling entry to a city of almost three million has fallen to a 30-year-old electrician called Andreiy, who mans a motorway checkpoint made of old tyres.

Viktor Yanukovych, the ruler whose attempt to put down a protest movement with brutal force started his own downfall, is now a fugitive with a warrant issued against him.

A Ukrainian protester fell in love with a policeman in Kiev, then leveraged the affair to criticise Government forces on live TV.

Ukraine's Parliament chose a post-revolutionary president yesterday as politicians tried to assemble a caretaker Cabinet under the critical gaze of thousands of protesters.

This weekend the fates of President Viktor Yanukovych and former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko once again took dramatically opposite turns.

For a moment, the white blanket serving as a shroud fell back, revealing the dead man's frozen face and a crimson bullet wound on the left side of his head.

The European Union has imposed its first sanctions against Ukraine, joining the United States in a two-pronged campaign of public pressure and backroom diplomacy.

When a Government announces an "anti-terror operation", that generally means it has decided to kill some people.

A new appeal went out from the surviving barricades of Kiev yesterday: bring anything that will burn!

President Viktor Yanukovych has defiantly refused a chorus of calls from global leaders and opposition parties.

About 200,000 anti-government protesters converged on the central square of Ukraine's capital in a dramatic show of morale after nearly four weeks of daily protests.