Corey Flintoff

A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying nearly 300 people has crashed in eastern Ukraine, near the Russian border. It's unclear why it crashed, but the Ukrainian president is calling for an investigation.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are now members of the EU and NATO, but they have painful memories of the Soviet occupation. The Baltic states are asking for a bigger NATO presence in their countries.

The crisis in Ukraine is starting to take a psychological toll on citizens, including those who aren't near the fighting in the country's eastern provinces. Many Ukrainians say they now feel their country is at war with Russia and that they're prepared to make sacrifices for Ukraine's independence. Recent polling data shows that even in the east of the country, most people support keeping the country unified.

Ukraine's president has signed a historic trade and economic pact with the European Union, a move his predecessor rejected. The conflict that the first rejection sparked still simmers, with violence continuing in the country's east despite a shaky cease-fire.

Pro-Russian separatists in Eastern Ukraine have rejected a cease-fire plan offered by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

Ukraine's new president says he will declare a unilateral cease-fire in eastern Ukraine. The announcement comes after months of fighting between government troops and pro-Moscow separatists.

Russia says it has cut natural gas supplies to Ukraine after Kiev missed a deadline to pay part of its huge outstanding energy debt.

Moscow has been talking lately about "color revolutions" as a new form of warfare employed by the West. The name comes from the Orange and Rose Revolutions in Ukraine and Georgia, respectively, but it's now being applied to popular rebellions such as those in Egypt and Syria. While Russia accuses the West of this kind of subversion, it seems to be following the same playbook in eastern Ukraine.

Moscow is pouring in billions in an effort to make Crimea a showcase of development. But Crimea has a deeply entrenched reputation for organized crime, which already taints some of its new leaders.

It was hoped that Ukraine's first presidential elections would bring stability to the region. But pro-Russian separatists have vowed to prevent voting in Sunday's presidential elections.