Morning Must Reads: March 5

• “As Secretary of State John F. Kerry prepared to meet with his Russian counterpart in Paris, standoffs continued Wednesday between Russian and Ukrainian warships in this Crimean port with no sign of a breakthrough in a stalemate between the new government in Kiev and pro-Russian authorities in the Crimean Peninsula. In Brussels, the European Union weighed in Wednesday with a proposal to provide a $15 billion aid package of loans and grants to Ukraine in the coming years, on top of a U.S. announcement Tuesday of $1 billion in loan guarantees.” [WashPost]
  • The Standoff at Belbek: Inside the First Clash of the Second Crimean War [TIME]
  • “The House intelligence committee is ordering a review of the intelligence analysis leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine after U.S. spy agencies last week concluded that Moscow would launch no such invasion.” [Daily Beast]
• U.S. Takes Training Role in Africa as Threats Grow and Budgets Shrink [NYT]
• Border Patrol Faces Heat Over Use of Lethal Force on Unarmed Immigrants [WSJ]
• The Winners and Losers in Obama’s 2015 Budget [Hill]
• “Half of all Americans believe that gay men and lesbians have a constitutional right to marry, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll in which a large majority also said businesses should not be able to deny serving gays for religious reasons.” [WashPost]
• Fake Outrage in the Kentucky Senate Race [NYT]
• George P. Bush wins statewide race [Politico]

• The Standoff at Belbek: Inside the First Clash of the Second Crimean War [TIME]
• “The House intelligence committee is ordering a review of the intelligence analysis leading up to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine after U.S. spy agencies last week concluded that Moscow would launch no such invasion.” [Daily Beast]

Contact us at letters@time.com.