From our News Desk:
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the alliance's leaders will be asked this week to approve the creation of a high-readiness force in Eastern Europe to help member nations defend themselves against threats.
Rasmussen said in Brussels on September 1 the proposed "spearhead" force could be comprised of several thousand troops contributed on a rotating basis by the 28 NATO countries.
Backed by air and naval assets, he said the force could be deployed on "very short notice."
Rasmussen stressed that NATO would not breach an agreement struck with Russia in 1997, limiting its presence in Eastern Europe.
The announcement comes ahead of a NATO summit in Wales starting on September 4 that is expected to be dominated by how the alliance should react to Russian actions in Ukraine.
Quotes Of The Day
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko speaking at the opening day of a military academy in Kyiv:
"Direct and open aggression has been launched against Ukraine from a neighboring state. This has changed the situation in the zone of conflict in a radical way and raises new and more difficult questions for our security bodies. We are thoroughly analyzing the events of the last week. Conclusions will be serious. There will be personnel changes as well."
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaking to a BBC reporter in Yakutsk:
"The Ukrainian military surrounded large population centers and is directly firing on residential areas. The goal of the militia forces is to push back those [Ukrainian] armed forces and artillery so they cannot fire on residential areas. And unfortunately many countries, including in Europe, prefer not to notice that."
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking at a meeting with students of the Moscow State Institute of International Relations:
"There will be no military involvement. We are calling for an exclusively peaceful settlement of this awful crisis, this tragedy. Everything we do is aimed at advancing exactly this political approach."
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen speaking at a news conference at NATO headquarters in Belgium ahead of a NATO summit in Wales on September 4.
"Our summit in Wales this week will take place in a changed world. It will address the challenges of a changed world and so I expect it to be a crucial summit in NATO's history."
"At the summit, we will ensure that the alliance remains ready, able, and willing to defend all allies against any attack. We will agree a Readiness Action Plan to make NATO more agile than ever."
"The Readiness Action Plan responds to Russia's aggressive behavior, but it equips the alliance to respond to all security challenges wherever they may arise."
Children in the eastern Ukrainian city of Slovyansk attended their first day of school on September 1. Students recited Ukrainian poetry and sang the national anthem at a back-to-school ceremony in the former stronghold of pro-Russian separatists, recaptured by the Ukrainian military in early July.
From our News Desk:
Prominent Polish intellectuals on September 1 marked the 75th anniversary of Nazi Germany’s 1939 invasion of Poland by comparing it to Russia’s interference in Ukraine.
Signatories to an open letter to the European Union include former Foreign Minister Wladyslaw Bartoszewski, who had been a Polish resistance fighter against the Nazis and a prisoner at the Auschwitz concentration camp.
The letter calls Russia an "aggressive state" that has taken over Crimea, the Black Sea peninsula Moscow annexed from Ukraine in April.
It says Russia’s Army and special forces now operate in eastern Ukraine, often covertly, to support separatists who “terrorize the local population.”
The appeal calls on France to cancel its planned sale of Mistral warships to Russia.
It says Berlin should restrict the activities of Russian energy firms in Germany to decrease German dependence on Russian natural gas.