Via Wiki Commons

5:49 am: Ukraine's new prime minister said that he is afraid that Russia might send troops to occupy Russian-speaking areas of Ukraine outside of Crimea, reports AP.

6:40 am: A meeting of the US, Russian, British, French and German foreign ministers to discuss the Ukraine crisis, being held by French President Francois Hollande is underway, a presidential source has told reporters at the Elysee presidential palace.

8:04 am: U.S. secretary of state John Kerry and Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov held a brief one-on-one meeting in Paris to discuss the crisis, according to state department.

9:15 am: UN special envoy to Ukraine, Robert Serry, blockaded inside Crimea coffee shop by a militia, according to journalist James Mates, who was in the shop with Serry.

10:40 am: The Russian and Ukrainian foreign ministers, plus the Americans and the British, arrive at the French foreign ministry.

10:45 am: Nato secretary-general Andres Fogh Rasmussen announces the Atlantic council has decided to place its cooperation activities with Russia under review.

10:48 am: Britain announced that it is freezing the assets of 18 Ukrainians suspected of misappropriating Ukrainian state funds, (Financ minister george Osborne tweets).

11:20 am: Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov departs talks in paris without meeting Ukrainian foreign minister Andriy Deshchytsia. (Reuters)

11:45 am: Pentagon said it planned to more than double its commitment of aircraft to joint NATO-policing missions in the Baltics.

12:35 pm: "I think today was very constructive. Without promising something that is not defined yet... I want to be realistic. This is hard, tough, stufff, and a very serious moment. I’d rather be where we are today than where we are yesterday” Secretary of State Kerry says.

1:05 pm: Ukraine's soccer team beats the U.S. 2-0.

1:30 pm: Robert Serry, the UN envoy threatened earlier today by gunmen, is in Istanbul temporarily but plans to head soon for Kiev, the UN said.

As the crisis rapidly escalates, it is time to reduce tensions and create opportunity, not flex rhetorical muscles and encourage a blowback from Putin. U.S. policy should focus on investigating whether the European Union, Russia and itself can join together to preserve Ukraine's territorial unity, and to support new and free elections.

SEE ALSO: Severing Russian Ties May Not Fix Ukraine

Reach Executive Producer Syuzanna Petrosyan here. Follow her on Twitter.