TODAY: Ukraine’s acting president says it’s war; deaths on both sides as Kiev meets pro-Russian separatists with force; Russia calls emergency UN meeting, quarrels ensue; Naftogaz suspends gas payments; thousands protest in favour of media freedom in Moscow; Khodorkovsky prison book published; Russia spent more than US on military last year.

The acting President of Ukraine, Oleksandr Turchynov, announced to his nation in a televised address that it is at war with Russia, and vowed to launch a ‘large-scale anti-terrorist operation’, after Kiev sent troops into government buildings in a bid to remove pro-Russian protesters by force, reportedly leading to deaths and casualties on both sides.  This morning marks Ukraine’s deadline for pro-Russian separatists to disarm or face attack.  Russia says the deadline is effectively ‘a criminal order’.  Russia called an emergency meeting at the UN yesterday to address the situation: the US ambassador accused Russia of having ‘written and choreographed’ the current instability; Ukraine’s ambassador said his country just wants Russia ‘to leave us in peace’.  Russian ambassador Vitaly Churkin says Ukraine needs to end what he called ‘a war with its own people’, dismissed all Western accusations of Russian involvement in the current crisis, and slammed ‘grotesque Russophobia and embedded hatred’ in the Ukrainian parliament.  Perhaps Russia’s aim is to destabilise Ukraine before the latter’s presidential elections next month, says The Economist.  Ukraine’s state energy company, Naftogaz, says it has suspended payments to Gazprom.