By Philip Pullella

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Francis told U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday that the world body must do more to help the poor and should encourage the "legitimate redistribution" of wealth.

Francis, who since his election last year has often called for significant changes to economic systems, made his comments in an address to Ban and heads of many U.N. agencies meeting in Rome.

"In the case of global political and economic organization, much more needs to be achieved, since an important part of humanity does not share in the benefits of progress and is in fact relegated to the status of second-class citizens," Francis said.

Francis, an Argentine, is the first non-European pope in 1,300 years and the first-ever Latin American pontiff. He has consistently used his meetings with world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama in March, to champion the cause of the world's have-nots.

He told the U.N. officials that while there had been a welcome decrease in extreme poverty and improvements in education "the world's peoples deserve and expect even greater results".

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Pope Francis (L) shakes hands with United Nations (U.N.) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon during a meet …

A contribution to equitable development could be made "both by international activity aimed at the integral human development of all the world’s peoples and by the legitimate

redistribution of economic benefits by the State ...," he said.

An awareness of everyone's human dignity should encourage everyone "to share with complete freedom the goods which God’s providence has placed in our hands," Francis said.

The pope, who was known as the "slum bishop" in his native Buenos Aires because of his frequent visits to shantytowns, is has said often since his election that he wants the Catholic Church to be closer to the poor.

He told the United Nations leaders that the organization's future sustainable development goals must be formulated in a way to have a "a real impact on the structural causes of poverty and hunger".

In the past 14 months since his election, Francis has issued several strong attacks on the global economic system, saying in one speech last September that it could no longer be based on "a god called money".

In Friday's address to the U.N. leadership, Francis also appeared to be taking a dig at recent sessions by two United Nations committees - one on sexual abuse and the other on torture - which criticized the Catholic Church's opposition to abortion.

Church groups said such criticisms were a violation of freedom of religion.

He told Ban that "life is sacred and inviolable from conception to natural death".

Ban also renewed an invitation for the pope to address the United Nations in New York.

(Reporting By Philip Pullella; Editing by Toby Chopra)

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SEVASTOPOL, Crimea (AP) — Presiding over a triumphant spectacle of warships and fighter jets, President Vladimir Putin hailed the return of Crimea to Russia as the restoration of "historic justice" before a jubilant, welcoming crowd Friday on the holiday that Russians hold dearest.

In Ukraine's east, where pro-Russia insurgents have seized government buildings and fought with Ukrainian forces, fatal fighting broke out in the city of Mariupol as a police station was set ablaze. The Associated Press saw at least three dead and Ukraine's Interior Minister said around 20 "terrorists" and one policeman were killed.

Russia's annexation of Crimea in March, a few weeks after Ukraine's president was toppled and fled to Russia, was a key event in Ukrainian's months-long crisis, which has now descended into violence.

Putin's visit to the Crimean port of Sevastopol, where Russia's Black Sea Fleet is based, was strongly criticized by both NATO and Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, which said it trampled on Ukraine's sovereignty and international law.

Ukraine is struggling with its most serious crisis in decades as insurgents in the east are grabbing buildings and territory, fighting the central government and preparing to hold a referendum Sunday on secession.

Putin's two Victory Day celebrations, which included a massive show of military muscle in the annual Red Square parade in Moscow and then the extravaganza in Sevastopol, rubbed salt in the wounds of the interim government in Kiev without ever once mentioning its name.

In Sevastopol, Putin rode a cabin-cruiser type boat past hulking warships, issuing greetings to their crews, as warplanes and helicopters swooped over the vast harbor. He then stepped onto land for a short address to the tens of thousands on the shore who came to watch the spectacle.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev attend a Victory Day para …

Victory Day is Russia's most important secular holiday and a key element of the country's national identity, honoring the armed forces and the millions who died in World War II. This year it comes as Russia is locked in the worst crisis with the West since the end of the Cold War.

In his speech, Putin hailed the incorporation of Crimea's 2 million people into Russia as "return to the Motherland" and a tribute to the "historical justice and the memory of our ancestors."

He expanded on the theme in a later address at a commemorative concert, saying Russia respected other countries' interests and "we ask that all of them show regard for our legal interests, including the restoration of historical justice and the right to self-determination."

Crimea had been transferred to Ukraine in 1954 during Soviet times and remained under Ukrainian control until the March annexation, which has not been acknowledged by the West or Kiev. The annexation followed a hastily arranged referendum.

Fighting exploded Friday in Mariupol, a city of 500,000 on the Sea of Azov that is on the main road between Russia proper and Crimea.

An Associated Press journalist saw three dead bodies near the police station, including one man in civilian clothes but with a police helmet. The Donetsk regional administration said three people were killed and 25 wounded during the fighting.

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A police station is ablaze in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine, Friday May 9, 2014. Fighting between govern …

But Ukraine's Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said in a statement that 20 "terrorists" and one police officer were killed as 60 insurgent gunmen tried to capture the police station and were rebuffed by police and the military.

Avakov said the government was ready to negotiate with those in the east who want to sit down for talks but vowed to destroy those who take up arms. He promised not to let Ukraine "turn into a burning buffer zone, where death will become the norm."

NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, meanwhile, repeated his stance that Crimea was not part of Russia.

"We consider the Russian annexation of Crimea to be illegal, illegitimate and we don't recognize it," Fogh Rasmussen told reporters in Tallinn, Estonia. "We still consider Crimea as Ukrainian territory and from my knowledge the Ukrainian authorities haven't invited Putin to visit Crimea, so from that point of view his visit to Crimea is inappropriate."

Earlier in Moscow, Putin watched as about 11,000 Russian troops proudly marched across Red Square to the tunes of marches and patriotic songs. They were followed by columns of dozens of tanks and rocket launchers as some 70 combat aircraft, including giant nuclear-capable strategic bombers, roared overhead.

In a dig at Ukraine, the parading troops on Red Square included one marine unit from the Black Sea Fleet that flew the Crimean flag on its armored personnel carriers.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin, with WWII veterans, lays flowers at a monument to heroic defenders …

The Red Square parade, which featured massive Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles, came a day after Putin watched a massive military exercise that simulated a retaliatory nuclear strike in response to an enemy attack.

The West and the Ukrainian government accuse Russia of fomenting the unrest in Ukraine's east, where insurgents have seized government buildings in a dozen of cities and towns. The insurgents are holding a referendum on independence Sunday in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions — an area that encompasses 6.5 million people. The vote is similar to a plebiscite that paved the way for Moscow's annexation of Crimea.

Putin's surprise call Wednesday for the rebels to delay the referendum appeared to reflect Russia's desire to distance itself from the separatists as it bargains with the West. But insurgents in Ukraine's Russian-speaking east defied Putin's call and said they would go ahead anyway.

Putin also said Russia had withdrawn its forces from the Ukrainian border, but Pentagon and NATO repeated again that they had seen no evidence of a pullback. NATO has said Russia has tens of thousands of troops in regions along Ukraine's border, and Ukraine fears Russia could invade and grab more territory.

"We still don't have visible evidence of Russian withdrawal of troops from Ukraine's border," Fogh Rasmussen told reporters Friday. "I would be the first to welcome it if Russian troops were pulled out."

Russia wants Ukraine to adopt a new constitution that would give broad powers to its regions — and would also help Moscow keep the country's east in its orbit. It also has sought guarantees that Ukraine would not join NATO.

Ukraine has rejected the Russian demands.

The head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Lamberto Zannier visited Kiev on Friday and criticized the referendum in the east, calling it a "divisive initiative."

The United States and the European Union have slapped travel bans and asset freezes on members of Putin's entourage in response to the annexation of Crimea.

Despite the sanctions, Putin is set to travel to France in early June for a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the D-Day invasion that hastened the end of World War II, his first encounter with Western leaders since the start of the Ukrainian crisis.

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Isachenkov reported from Moscow. Peter Leonard and Olimpiu Gheorghiu in Mariupol, Ukraine, Yuras Karmanau in Odessa, Ed Brown in Donetsk and Mark Rachkevych, Dmytro Vlasov and Svetlana Kozlenko in Kiev contributed to this report.

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By Matt Robinson and Alessandra Prentice

MARIUPOL/SLAVIANSK, Ukraine (Reuters) - Acting Ukrainian President Oleksander Turchinov told eastern regions gripped by a pro-Russian uprising that they would be courting catastrophe if they voted "yes" in a separatist referendum on Sunday.

The vote, organized on an ad hoc basis with no clear control of authenticity of ballot papers or voter lists, could determine if the Western-backed Kiev government and pro-Russian eastern regions find a compromise, or whether Ukraine slides into civil war.

Violence has grown along with the bitter rhetoric in the regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where the vote will take place.

"A dreadful terror is in train with the support of a large part of the local population," Turchinov said on his website on Saturday. "It is a complex problem when a population deceived by (Russian) propaganda support terrorists."

The separatists say they are defending themselves against a Ukrainian government they portray as 'fascist' and anti-Russian. Ukraine, backed by the United States and the European Union, accuses Russia of destabilizing it, a charge that Moscow denies.

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A masked man walks past a burnt-out armoured personal carrier near the city hall in Mariupol, easter …

Germany and France said they would support tougher sanctions against Russia, from energy to financial services, if the rebellion they see as engineered by Moscow thwarts Ukraine's May 25 presidential election, intended to stabilize the country. That would mark a further escalation of what is already the worst East-West crisis since the Cold War.

"INTO THE ABYSS"

Turchinov urged eastern regions to reject the "People's Republic of Donetsk" declared by the Russian-speaking rebels, who control a string of cities following weeks of increasingly fierce fighting.

He appealed to political forces in the east to join 'round table' talks on greater autonomy. But, in reference to fighters who have seized police and government buildings, he said 'terrorists' could not be included.

Secession from Ukraine "would be a step into the abyss for these regions," Turchinov said on his website. "Those who stand for self-rule do not understand that it would mean complete destruction of the economy, social programs and life in general for the majority of the population in these regions."

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A man walks past a burning barricade near the city hall in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine May 10, 2014. R …

A breakaway by Donetsk and Luhansk - the coal and steel belt which accounts for 16 percent of Ukraine's economic output - would deal a second crushing blow to Kiev. Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea region in March, shortly after pro-Moscow Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich was toppled by protests.

In Slaviansk, the most strongly defended redoubt of separatists, streets were blocked by barricades of tires, furniture and scrap metal.

'Everyone here is voting, and voting for the republic," said Larissa Ivanovna, who runs the cloakroom at Slaviansk's central market. "We can't live in a country together with murderers like Turchinov.'

Lyudmila, aged 28 and unemployed, had been waiting two hours for a bus that she wasn't sure would turn up because of the barricades.

"Look at this place, everything is run-down or closed altogether. How can we support ourselves on our own?" she asked. "They need to sit down and figure out a compromise so we can live in a united Ukraine."

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An armed pro-Russian separatist sits next to a box for donations outside an administrative building …

Slaviansk's rebel mayor Vyacheslav Ponomaryov told a news conference he expected a 100 percent turnout in the election. He described Turchinov and his government as a "junta".

In the port city of Mariupol, between seven and 20 people were killed on Friday when Ukrainian forces entered the port city and fought with local gunmen for control of police headquarters.

On Saturday a handful of pro-Russians wearing motorcycle helmets, some carrying batons or clubs, were manning street barricades of tires, garbage containers and chairs. Smoke was still coming from the partially burnt-out administration building. Ukrainian forces remained on the outskirts of town.

Video on YouTube showed an armored car captured by rebels set on fire and ammunition exploding.

In the city of Donetsk, rebels released several members of the Red Cross whom they held for seven hours. One had been beaten, a Red Cross official in Kiev said.

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Armed pro-Russian separatists keep guard outside an administrative building in the eastern Ukrainian …

WESTERN SANCTIONS

The Ukrainian crisis is making waves far beyond Ukraine's southern Black Sea shores and its northern Russian frontier.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande said that if the May 25 election failed to go ahead, they would be "ready to take further sanctions against Russia".

In a joint statement, they agreed to support tougher sanctions against Russia - affecting areas such as energy, defense, financial services and engineering - than European Union leaders outlined at a meeting in Brussels on March 6.

Western leaders know sanctions can also affect their own economies.

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People walk past a barricade near the city hall in Mariupol, eastern Ukraine May 10, 2014. REUTERS/M …

Germany, which relies on Russia for 40 percent of its natural gas supplies, has been seen as hesitant to ratchet up and broaden sanctions, which are opposed by most Germans. Stern magazine reported German growth could be cut by 0.9 percentage points this year if tougher sanctions are imposed.

In Luhansk and Donetsk, preparations went ahead for Sunday's self-rule referendum, though there was widespread uncertainty about what the question on the ballot paper meant: "Do you support the act of self-rule of the People's Republic of Donetsk?"

Some people interpret it as a vote for more local powers, some for broad autonomy within Ukraine, some for independence, others still as a step towards incorporation into Russia.

It was not clear on the eve of the vote quite how it would be conducted, or if pro-Kiev forces would attempt to keep any of the schools or other buildings due to host the election closed.

Slaviansk mayor Ponomaryov set terms for talks with Kiev, though he is unlikely to be an acceptable negotiating partner.

These conditions were the withdrawal of Ukrainian forces and an exchange of prisoners, he told a news conference. "Only after fulfillment of these conditions would we be ready for talks. If the junta continues to retain its forces here, we will continue to fight."

(Writing by Ralph Boulton; Additional reporting by Pavel Polityuk and Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Mark Trevelyan)

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MOSCOW (AP) — People in two regions of restive eastern Ukraine — Donetsk and Luhansk — will vote Sunday on declaring sovereignty. The plebiscites, hastily arranged by pro-Russia insurgents who have seized government buildings over the past month, are denounced both by the central government in Kiev and the West, and it is unclear whether they will be recognized by Moscow in light of Russian President Vladimir Putin's call for the vote to be postponed. Issues of legitimacy aside, the vote is sure to add to tensions in an area already gripped by rebellion and sporadic clashes between militants and Ukrainian forces.

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HOW IT STARTED

After Viktor Yanukovych, the Russia-friendly Ukrainian president, was toppled in February following months of protests in the capital, many people in eastern and southern Ukraine strongly resented the authorities who took over. The majority in that sprawling swath of the country speak Russian as their mother tongue and many denounced the new government as nationalists — and even fascists — who would suppress the Russian-speakers. The Black Sea peninsula of Crimea held a referendum on secession less than a month after Yanukovych's ouster, and Russia annexed Crimea days later. In April, insurgents calling themselves the Donetsk People's Republic began seizing police stations and government buildings in that region, setting up checkpoints and claiming control of several cities.

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THE BALLOT ISSUE

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A masked pro Russia man and his two dogs pose for a picture at the barricades surrounding the Donets …

The ballot asks if voters approve establishment of sovereign and independent "people's republics." However, the ultimate goal is not clear. Organizers in Donetsk say that, in the event of a "yes" vote, they will decide later if they want to be independent, seek to become part of Russia, or agree to stay in Ukraine but with significantly greater autonomy.

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RUSSIA'S INVOLVEMENT

Kiev and the West claim that Russia is fomenting or even directing the unrest in the east, either with the goal of finding a pretext for invading and seizing the region, or of destabilizing Ukraine in order to force it to abandon aspirations to join NATO and the European Union. Russia denies that it has agents on the ground in the east. However, it clearly has strong influence, as witnessed by its success in obtaining the release of OSCE military observers who were taken hostage by militants in the city of Slovyansk, and its adamant criticism of Ukraine's acting government reinforces the insurgents' resistance.

Putin's call on Wednesday for the referendum to be postponed may have been intended to portray Russia as seeking de-escalation of the crisis. The insurgents' rejection of the call the next day promotes the view that they are not pawns of Moscow, but a genuine people's movement rising up against a purported threat of genocide.

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The head of the elections commission of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, Denis Pushilin, …

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REFERENDUM PROSPECTS

Recent poll data show a strong majority in the east favor remaining part of Ukraine, but that doesn't necessarily prefigure a "no" vote on a "people's republic." Many who were on the fence may have been swayed by last week's grisly confrontation in Odessa, where dozens of pro-Russians died when the building where they took shelter was firebombed by government backers. Although Odessa is far away from the referendum regions, the violence reinforced the view of the government side as brutal and vengeful. Friday's violence in the Donetsk region city of Mariupol, in which at least seven people died in a clash between security forces and protesters, also adds to the tensions. In any case, sovereignty opponents may choose to sit out the vote because of the intimidating atmosphere. And without international oversight, the vote count's accuracy will be highly debatable. Ukraine's acting president, Oleksandr Turchynov, warned in remarks published Saturday that seeking regional sovereignty would be "a step into the abyss."

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WHAT'S NEXT?

If the vote is "yes" and the insurgents push for incorporation into Russia, Moscow will face a dilemma. U.S. and EU sanctions already appear to be affecting the economy. Russia would be leery of inducing more such punishment by annexing the regions. It would also be logistically more challenging: Crimea housed a large Russian military contingent at the Black Sea Fleet base and reinforcements were brought in quickly before Ukraine could respond. But Ukrainian forces are already fighting in the east.

However, Putin's assertion of Russia's alleged right to reclaim territories that it lost through historical "injustices," which he cited in justifying the annexation of Crimea, could end up making Russia feel obliged to add Luhansk and Donetsk to its territory.

Eastern Ukraine's vote a critical, tense moment

A referendum planned for Sunday on pro-Russian sovereignty could further destabilize two troubled regions.
4 key points