BREAKING: Senior separatist leaders say they are ready to order a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine on September 5 if agreement is reached with Ukrainian government representatives at talks in Minsk.
BREAKING: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he will order a cease-fire on September 5 and hopes implementation of a peace plan will begin the same day.
Big news, if accurate...
More from our news desk on the NATO assessment of the number of troops in Ukraine:
Reuters news agency quotes a NATO military officer as saying Russia has several thousand combat troops and hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles inside Ukraine.
NATO had previously said that "well over 1,000" Russian troops were operating inside Ukraine, and that there was clear evidence of direct Russian involvement in the conflict between separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine.
Russia denies this.
The NATO officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters, "We are still seeing several thousand Russian combat troops on the ground inside Ukraine, equipped with hundreds of tanks and armoured vehicles, so (there is) no substantial change in the disposition of Russian forces inside Ukraine."
He also said that around 20,000 Russian troops remain close to the Ukrainian border.
He spoke on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Wales.
This just in from our News Desk:
Reuters news agency quotes a NATO military officer as saying Russia has several thousand combat troops and hundreds of tanks and armored vehicles inside Ukraine.