DHAKA: President Vladimir Putin has arrived in Crimea, his first visit to the peninsula since Russia annexed it from Ukraine in March.

He addressed sailors in Sevastopol harbour as part of celebrations marking the 1945 Soviet victory over the Nazis.

The Kiev government protested at the visit, calling it a “gross violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty”.

Kiev also reported that more than 20 people had died in a security operation against separatists in Mariupol.

Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said that about 20 pro-Russian protesters and one Ukrainian security officer had been killed in the southern port.

Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists had clashed at the police HQ, which was set on fire.

Source: BBC

BDST: 2053 HRS, May 9, 2014