A dozen of these have just passed by us in the direction of the border. Cannot confirm that is where they're heading. pic.twitter.com/XOya5Z9NT4
— Steve Rosenberg (@BBCSteveR) August 15, 2014
Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this update from our news desk on some fresh diplomatic efforts concerning the Ukraine situation.
Finnish President Sauli Niinisto is due meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi today, with talks expected to focus on the crisis in Ukraine.
"I do not want to present myself as a great peace mediator," Niinisto told reporters. "What we need are open communication channels. [This]...is a small step forward."
Finland has been hard hit by trade embargoes that Moscow has implemented in retaliation for EU sanctions.
The EU sanctions were imposed to punish Russia for its annexation of Crimea and what Western governments say is Moscow's support for pro-Russian rebels in eastern Ukraine.
A European Commission representative declined to comment when asked by the Reuters news agency whether the meeting suggested cracks in EU unity over Ukraine.
The visit by Niinisto is Putin's first bilateral meeting with an EU leader on Russian soil since the Winter Olympics in Sochi in February.
(Reuters, ITAR-TASS, Interfax)
We are now closing down our live blog for today. Don't forget that you can keep up with all the latest development in Ukraine here.
My story on a really bizarre show in Yalta today: Putin tones down rhetoric on Ukraine. http://t.co/kd8VBAfo0w
— Nataliya Vasilyeva (@NatVasilyevaAP) August 14, 2014
BBC gets praise from unusual quarters RT “@natomission_ru: Questions to @AndersFoghR in BBC #Hardtalk are right to the point”
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) August 14, 2014
So @RolandOliphant and I just saw a column of APCs and vehicles with official Russian military plates cross border into Ukraine.
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) August 14, 2014
The AFP news agency has issued this video showing the aftermath of intense fighting close to the center of Donetsk today:
Disturbing #s of people in military attire moving across RUS-#Ukraine border in plain sight of OSCE observer mission http://t.co/LUlae5OshP
— Andrew S. Weiss (@andrewsweiss) August 14, 2014
CNN: Which foods are off #Russian menus? (#INFOGRAPHIC) http://t.co/2eiXRH9Lsa
— Kyiv Post (@KyivPost) August 14, 2014
Remember Tetyana Chornovol -- the Ukrainian journalist who was savagely beaten and left for dead during Maidan protests late last year? She writes quite moving here about losing her husband -- a volunteer soldier who was killed last week while fighting Moscow-backed separatists.
This blog puts together evidence that pro-Russian forces are shelling their own towns http://t.co/b3TWJX7aup
— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) August 14, 2014