Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested “statehood” for battle-torn southeastern Ukraine as further European Union sanctions loom. “We must immediately commence substantive talks and not only on technical issues, but also on the political organization of society and the statehood status of southeast Ukraine in order to serve the interests of people living there,” Putin said in a television interview broadast yesterday. Ukrainian troops killed about 100 pro-Russian rebels in the last 24 hours, Defense Ministry spokesman Leonid Matyukhin said in a video statement on Facebook today. Government troops are fighting for control of Luhansk airport and they were shelled three times from the Russian side of the border, according to the statement. Members of a so-called contact group that may include representatives from Russia, Ukraine, the rebels and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe were expected to meet in the Belarus capital Minsk today in the latest […]