Pro-Russian rebels shot down two Ukrainian fighter jets on Wednesday, not far from where a Malaysian airliner was brought down last week in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 passengers on board.

The Communist Party of Ukraine will cease to exist on Thursday, the speaker of Ukraine's parliament announced.

The European Union should not give Russia technical help to develop Arctic oil and gas fields if Moscow does not help to defuse the Ukraine crisis, EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger said Wednesday.

As the initial shock over the Malaysia Airlines plane disaster in Ukraine subsides, the governments of Russia and the U.S. appear to be adopting a more conciliatory rhetoric toward each other, demonstrating the constraints that drive their foreign policies.

A powerful Ukrainian rebel leader has confirmed that pro-Russian separatists had an anti-aircraft missile of the type Washington says was used to shoot down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and it could have originated in Russia.

A Malaysian airliner carrying 285 passengers crashed over conflict-torn eastern Ukraine, Interfax reported, citing Ukrainian law enforcement sources.

A passenger on the Malaysian Airlines flight that crashed in eastern Ukraine appears to have posted an ominous message before the plane took off from Amsterdam's Schiphol airport.

The destruction of Flight MH17 was the last nail in the coffin of the reassuring theory that a repeat of the Cold War was impossible, writes columnist Victor Davidoff.

Air traffic controllers barely managed to stop six airliners from colliding on Sunday in Russia's southern Rostov region, near the Ukrainian border, Interfax reported.

While Russia's support of Ukrainian separatists has led to its worst standoff with the West in post-Soviet history, the Kremlin cannot afford to disown them because that would spell a major geopolitical defeat and alienate the jingoistic masses at home, Russian pundits said.