The EU unilaterally open European market for products and manufacturers in Ukraine. Brussels has also approved the decision to sign a political party association agreement with Kiev “in the near future”.

Prime Ministers of Bulgaria and Romania have agreed to support Serbia’s EU accession at a meeting in the Danube town of Ruse.

Ukraine’s parliament began a procedure to dissolve the regional assembly in Crimea after it asked to join Russia, Ukraine’s interim president Oleksandr Turchynov said Thursday. 

Crimea’s Parliament voted to join Russia on March 6 and its Moscow-backed government set a referendum within 10 days on the decision in a dramatic escalation of the crisis over the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula. 

The Prime Ministers of Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia will hold a trilateral meeting in Bulgaria’s Danube city of Ruse on Friday.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul on Wednesday warned the international community against reviving the Cold War era amid the crisis unfolding in Ukraine, saying that it is “dangerous for everyone and parties should avoid it.”

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will meet Ukrainian Prime Minister Arsenii Yatseniuk at NATO Headquarters Thursday afternoon.

In a show of U.S. support for Ukraine’s new leadership, Secretary of State John Kerry walked the streets of Kiev on Tuesday and promised the crowds that American aid is on the way.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Deshchytsia sounded a conciliatory tone towards Russia, saying he wanted to resolve their impasse “peacefully.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to a proposal from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to set up a contact group on Ukraine, the German government said. “President Putin accepted the German chancellor’s proposal to immediately establish a mission of inquiry as well as a contact group, possibly under the