Biden Meets Kiev Leaders In Show Of Support

Mr. Biden told politicians at the parliament building in Kiev that the U.S. stood with Ukraine in the face of "humiliating threats"

A phone conversation between the U.S. Secretary of  State and Russia's Foreign Minister earlier , led to both sides blaming the other over the crisis

Meanwhile , funerals are due to take place for the three men shot on Sunday , the men were killed during a raid on a checkpoint manned by Pro Russian separatists near the town of Sloviansk in Eastern Ukraine

The circumstances remain unclear , the local separatists said the attack was carried out by ultra nationalist Right Sector militants , Kiev called it a "provacation" staged by Russian special forces

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accused the Kiev authorities on Monday of breaking last week's Geneva accord on resolving the Ukraine crisis , he said the Kiev government , not recognized by Moscow , had not moved to disarm illegal groups , especially the Right Sector

The authorities in Kiev say they were surprized by Mr. Lavrov's  remarks  and blame Russia for instability , in a phone call , Mr. Lavrov urged U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry "to influence Kiev , to prevent hot heads there from provoking a bloody conflict " according to the Kremlin

Meanwhile , the U.S.  State department said Mr. Kerry "urged Russia to take concrete steps to help implement the Geneva aggrement including publicly calling on separatists to vacate illegal buildings and checkpoints"

Judging by the contrasting accounts of its contents , the conversation simply led both sides blaming the other for the fact that very little has changed in Ukraine since agreement was reached last Thursday

The U.S. has drawn up plans for further economic sanctions should Russia fail to make good on it's Geneva commitments

The April 17th Geneva accord was agreed at talks between Russia , Ukraine , the E.U. and U.S. , it demanded an immediate end toooooo violence inn Eastern Ukraine and called on illegal armed groups to surrender their weapons and leave official buildings

The U.S.State department released a series of photos of soldiers in Eastern Ukraine on Monday which  it says show  that some of the fighters are Russian special forces , the photos appeared to identify Russian soldiers , and show similarly equipped and armed fighters in different citise in Eastern Ukraine , there was  no immediate response to the pictures from the Russian government