More details on the SCO statement, from our newsroom:
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has backed a cease-fire deal agreed for eastern Ukraine last week and called for talks to continue until the conflict is resolved.
The call for a negotiated settlement of the conflict between Kyiv and pro-Russian separatists came in a declaration adopted on September 12 at a summit of the regional grouping comprising China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and host Tajikistan.
In a swipe at the United States, the SCO leaders also condemned any unilateral buildup of missile defense systems.
President Vladimir Putin said that Russia, which assumed the group's rotating presidency, will seek to boost the SCO's role in preserving regional stability.
Chinese President Xi Jinping said China, which has used the group to expand ties with the former Soviet republics of Central Asia, will provide a $5 billion loan to finance joint SCO projects.
Based on reporting by Reuters and Interfax
Today's situation map from the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council:
Here was the quote from Poroshenko, at a business forum today in Kyiv, via AFP: "In a few days, I go to the United States, where we have a very important meeting with the U.S. Congress [and] the U.S. president.... We are also hoping in the very near future for a special status of a non-NATO member ally."
UKRAINIAN GOVT APPROVES PROPOSALS FOR NATIONAL SECURITY AND DEFENSE
COUNCIL REGARDING APPLYING PERSONAL SANCTIONS TO RUSSIAN CITIZENS -- Interfax
From Ukraine's president:
Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilev warns that "Russia could launch an attack from Crimea very soon."
h/t: @liveuamap
Of the seven specialists at the morgue, five left when the fighting started, while the sixth drove over a mine on his way to work, and is now in hospital. That left Turevich to handle the influx of corpses on his own.
"I could have left, but then who would do this work?" he asks, before cutting the interview short. A van carrying 15 decaying bodies has just arrived....
Numbers are from "Kommersant":