Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Sunday for immediate talks on the "statehood" of southern and eastern Ukraine, although his spokesman said this did not mean Moscow now endorsed rebel calls for independence for territory they have seized.
The Kremlin leader's remarks, two days after a public appearance in which he compared the Kiev government with Nazis and warned the West not to "mess with us," came as Europe and the United States prepared possible further sanctions to halt what they say is direct Russian military involvement in the war in Ukraine.
In the first naval attack of the four-month conflict, the separatists fired on a Ukrainian vessel in the Azov Sea on Sunday. A Ukrainian military spokesman said a rescue operation was under way after the artillery attack from the shore.