Ukraine crisis update is very much an issue right now as Russian President Vladimir Putin has asserted Russia's "right" to invade the country. The Ukraine crisis update is that Putin's invasion declaration was made while Putin was on a live phone-in.

The live phone-in by Putin on the Ukraine crisis update was made after he accused Ukraine of plummeting Kiev into an "abyss" from a night of bloodshed in the east. The Russian President said on the live phone-in regarding the Ukraine crisis update: "I remind you that the Federation Council has given the president the right to use armed forces in Ukraine.

This phone-in in line with the current issued of the Ukraine crisis update referred to the upper house of Parliament during the show The Direct Line with Putin, an annual televised question and answer session. Putin added regarding the Ukraine crisis update, "I really hope that I do not have to exercise this right and that by political and diplomatic means we will be able to solve all of the sharp problems."

Vladimir Putin also said that Russia has not entirely ruled out sending its troops into eastern Ukraine, and he is still remaining hopeful that diplomacy would instead resolve the Ukraine crisis. The Russian president further said regarding the Ukraine crisis update that the country had been forced to respond to Nato enlargement and that its annexation of Crimea was partly influenced by the Western military alliance's expansion into eastern Europe.

In his live phone-in addressing the Ukraine crisis update, he said "Our decision on Crimea was partly due to ... considerations that if we do nothing, then at some point, guided by the same principles, NATO will drag Ukraine in and they will say: 'It doesn't have anything to do with you. I hope that they are able to realise what a pit, what an abyss the current authorities are in and dragging the country into."

Mr Putin continued the interview to address the Ukraine crisis update and he dismissed accusations that Russian agents were acting in east Ukraine. He considered them even "rubbish".

A Ukraine crisis update by The Independent says that according to Putin, Ukraine's Berkut riot police, which has already been disbanded by authorities in Kiev after being blamed for the deaths of protesters, had served honourably in the line of duty.

The Independent reports on the Ukraine crisis update that overnight, three pro-Russian separatists have already been killed and thirteen more were injured in what's probably the bloodiest attack in eastern Ukraine since the crisis began. Ukraine's state security service said this morning that it is detaining 10 Russian citizens, all of whom have intelligence backgrounds.

A Ukraine crisis update on Wednesday reports that pro- Russian troops seized six military vehicles and disarmed Ukrainian troops in what could be described as a humiliating defeat for their government's "anti-terrorist programme".

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov also said this morning that 300 pro-Russian separatists also threw Molotov cocktails and opened fire on a military unit in Mariupol. According to Avakov, sixty-three people have been arrested and most of the attackers disarmed. His statement reads regarding the latest Ukraine crisis update, "According to preliminary data, three attackers were killed, 13 wounded and 63 detained."

Ukraine crisis update reports the US government threatening further sanctions in lieu of increasing chaos in the country. President Barack Obama even sent a direct warning to Putin saying his actions all face consequences. In an interview with CBS News Wednesday, Obama said, "Each time Russia takes these kinds of steps that are designed to destabilize Ukraine and violate their sovereignty, there are going to be consequences.  Mr. Putin's decisions aren't just bad for Ukraine. Over the long term, they're going to be bad for Russia."