US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke this morning with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov during which Kerry made clear that “any further escalatory steps makes the window for diplomacy more difficult.”

Ousted Ukrainian leader Viktor Yanukovych on Tuesday said that he was still the country’s legitimate president and commander-in-chief, predicting he would be able to return to Kiev soon.

NATO said Monday it will deploy AWACS reconnaissance aircraft to overfly Poland and Romania as part of alliance efforts to monitor the crisis in Ukraine. The flights “will enhance the Alliance’s situational awareness,” a NATO official said, adding: “All AWACS reconnaissance flights will take place solely over Alliance territory.”