Here is today's situation map of eastern Ukraine by the National Security and Defense Council:
A Crimean Tatar scholar says masked assailants dragged him from his car and took his passport in an attack meant to prevent him from attending a UN conference in New York.
The attack on Nadir Bekir (pictured above) late on September 18 came hours after Russian authorities moved to seize the Crimean Tatar assembly, the Mejlis, piling pressure on the Muslim minority group that largely opposed Moscow's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in March.
Read a full story by RFE/RL's Tatar-Bashkir and Ukrainian services here.
Separatist rebels in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region say they plan to introduce the Russian curriculum into schools under their control. Ihor Kostenok, the education "minister" of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), said the Russian education system was "recognized around the world as one of the best." See the video and read more about it here.
"EuroMaidan" is among the seven nominees for the Sakharov Prize 2014 for freedom of thought. A short list will be announced on October 7 and the vote on a final decision comes on October 16. From the press release:
- Mahmoud Al ‘Asali (post mortem) and Louis Raphael Sako, nominated by the ECR group, Anna Záborská and 66 other MEPs,
- Mouad Belghouate, Ala Yaacoubi and Alaa Abdel Fattah, nominated by the GUE/NGL group,
- CHREDO, Open Doors, Oeuvre d'Orient and Aid to the Church in Need, nominated by Philippe Juvin and 60 other MEPs,
- EuroMaidan, represented by Mustafa Nayem, Ruslana Lyzhychko, Yelyzaveta Schepetylnykova and Tetiana Chornovo, nominated by Jacek Saryusz-Wolski and 52 other MEPs,
- Ayaan Hirsi Ali, nominated by the EFDD group,
- Denis Mukwege, nominated by the S&D and ALDE groups and Barbara Lochbihler, and
- Leyla Yunus, nominated by The Greens/EFA group and Alexander Graf Lambsdorff, Marietje Schaake and Ramon Tremosa.