We've also got all the latest from @TomBalmforth in Moscow on the raising of the Ukrainian flag, colors this morning over the Russian capital.
Stalin Tower Painted In Ukrainian Blue And Yellow
Ukrainian presidential aide Valeriy Chaly said via a post on the head of state's website that the EU Association Agreement "will have been ratified by the end of September."
Ukrainian military blogger Dmitry Tymchuk says "we estimate that only 40-45% of militants are citizens of Ukraine. The rest -- mercenaries from Russia (including citizens of other countries who have been trained in the Russian Federation) or Russian military."
A few exceptions made to Russia's list of banned imports, via ITAR-TASS:
Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has approved amendments to the country's imports ban to exclude hatchlings, lactose-free milk and dairy products, seeds, biologically active additives and vitamins from the list, according to a ruling published on the government's Web site on Wednesday.
From Interfax:
Representatives of the self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" (DNR) claim that Ukrainian troops have captured the DNR Defense Ministry's political correspondent and French national Yury Yurchenko in the city of Ilovaysk.
"Today Ukrainian forces captured a war correspondent from the DNR Defense Ministry's political department in the city of Ilovaysk," sources in the ministry told Interfax.
The DNR administration would not say how or why Yurchenko was arrested.
Looking for confirmation.
Reuters reports:
Ukraine wants the International Monetary Fund to combine the expected third and fourth tranches of a $17 billion dollar bailout package for a total of around $2.2 billion, Interfax quoted Finance Minister Oleksander Shlapak as saying on Wednesday.
Ukraine is already expecting the disbursement of a second slice of $1.4 billion from the IMF under the programme on Aug. 29.
"We want to combine the third and fourth tranches. We calculate this will be about $2.2 billion and we count on receiving it before the end of the year," Shlapak said.