EU calls emergency summit for leaders

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EU leaders will hold an emergency summit in Brussels tomorrow to discuss the Russia-Ukraine crisis.

In a letter to EU leaders, the head of the EU Council, Charles Michel, writes: "It is important that we continue to be united and determined and jointly define our collective approach and actions."

He says Russia's "aggressive actions" have violated "international law and the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine".

"They also undermine the European security order," he writes. "The use of force and coercion to change borders has no place in the 21st Century."

Ukraine has urged citizens living in Russia to leave the country immediately.

Up to three million Ukrainians are believed to live in Russia and many people have family in both countries.

Several Ukrainian government websites are down, the target of an apparent cyber-attack.

A state of emergency is to be declared in Ukraine, lasting 30 days, the country's top security official says.

Ukraine is also conscripting reservists into the regular military as it braces for a possible invasion by its neighbor.

The UK has announced it will be providing greater military support to Ukraine, in the form of defensive weapons and non-lethal aid.

Western countries and their allies have imposed sanctions on Russian banks and MPs, as the crisis escalates.

But critics, among them the UK's Labour Party, say the measures so far are not strong enough.

It's not clear if any new Russian troops have yet been sent into the two regions, which are run by Moscow-backed separatists. – BBC News