This from RFE/RL's correspondent Luke Johnson in Washington:
The White House announced a new $53 million aid package for Ukraine on September 18.
The package includes $46 million in security assistance for Ukraine's military and border guards, with $7 million directed toward international relief organizations for humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
The military aid includes body armor, helmets, vehicles, night- and thermal-vision devices, and countermortar radars.
The United States has thus far provided about $60 million in nonlethal military aid to Ukraine.
Some members of Congress from both parties have called for Washington to provide lethal aid and a total of up to $350 million in military aid.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko asked the U.S. congress for both lethal and nonlethal aid in an address to a joint session of Congress on September 18.
He is due to meet with President Barack Obama later in the day.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko spoke to a joint session of the U.S. Congress on September 18, calling on the United States "not to let Ukraine stand alone in the face of this [Russian] aggression." Poroshenko called for further political support and military aid from the United States.
Minsk announces new round of Ukraine talks:
The Belarusian Foreign Ministry says a new round of talks aimed at finding a lasting solution to the Ukraine crisis will take place in Minsk on September 19.
A Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed the meeting will take place but gave no time for the gathering of the so-called Contact Group that includes representatives of Russia, Ukraine, pro-Russian separatists, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Andrei Purgin, the self-styled deputy prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, will reportedly take part in the talks.
Ukraine will be represented by ex-President Leonid Kuchma.
The new talks come after Ukraine and separatists agreed to a cease-fire on September 5 as part of a "road map" to resolving five months of deadly conflict.
The fragile truce has largely held despite sporadic fighting.
Poroshenko asks U.S. for military aid, special security status:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has asked a joint session of the U.S. Congress for military aid and to confirm a special security status for Ukraine.
Poroshenko said that his army needed more military equipment, both "lethal and nonlethal."
He said "blankets, night-vision goggles are also important. But one cannot win a war with blankets...and cannot keep the peace with blankets."
Poroshenko described Ukraine's conflict with Russia as the world's worst since the U.S.-Soviet Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and urged the United States not to let "Ukraine stand alone in the face of this aggression."
Poroshenko also said that Russia's annexation of Crimea became one of "the most cynical acts of treachery in modern history."
He added that there is "no way, at no price, and under no condition" that Kyiv will put up with the occupation.
Poroshenko has now ended his speech with an emotional "Slava Ukrayini!" (Glory to Ukraine!). He gets a long standing ovation. We'll have a news wrap up of his speech for you shortly.
Meanwhile, this has also been lighting up social media networks:
Putin: Russian Troops could be in Vilnius, Warsaw, and Bucharest in Two Days http://t.co/XiqHfLD6Vo
— toomas hendrik ilves (@IlvesToomas) September 18, 2014
By supporting Ukraine, Poroshenko says, you support the future of the new Europe.
Poroshenko: I'm ready to offer separatists more rights than any other regions in Ukrainian history.
— Dan Peleschuk (@dpeleschuk) September 18, 2014