Interfax:
There have been no talks yet over withdrawal of foreign mercenaries from Ukraine in accordance with the Contact Group's September 19 memorandum, said Andrei Kelin, Russia's Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
"Apparently, there has been no talk or talks on the subject of foreign mercenaries," he told Interfax on Wednesday.
Write-up of NATO's Russian-troop assessment via our newsroom:
A NATO spokesman says the alliance has observed a significant withdrawal of Russian forces from inside Ukraine, but many Russian troops remain stationed near the border.
Lieutenant-Colonel Jay Janzen said in an e-mailed message, "There has been a significant pullback of Russian conventional forces from inside Ukraine, but many thousands are still deployed in the vicinity of the border."
Lanzen said that some Russian troops are still inside Ukraine, but added that it is "difficult to determine the number."
He said pro-Russian separatists control several border crossings, which allows the routine back-and-forth movement of troops across the border.
Lanzen added tha Russian special forces are operating inside Ukraine, "and they are difficult to detect."
Meanwhile, pro-Russian officials in eastern Ukraine's rebel-held city of Donetsk said a cease-fire between pro-Russian separatists and government forces has been violated twice overnight in the city.
Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, and Interfax
Today's situation map from the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council:
From RFE/RL Russian Service correspondent Dmitry Volchek and Claire Bigg:
'I Won't Sing For Occupiers' -- A Ukrainian Singer Falls Out With Russia
From our newsroom:
Japan said September 24 that it is imposing additional sanctions on Russia in line with steps taken by other nations, including its key ally the United States.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said the new measures include banning certain Russian banks from issuing securities in Japan and increasing inspections to prevent arms being shipped to Russia.
Japan imposed sanctions after Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula in March but they were lighter than those of the European Union or United States.
Yoshihide Suga also said Tokyo Japan planned to lodge a diplomatic protest after a group of senior Russian government officials on September 24 visited one of the four disputed Kuril islands off northern Japan.
President Vladimir Putin's chief of staff, Sergei Ivanov, was among the group who visited Iturup island, known as Etorofu in Japan.
The four Russian-administered Kuril islands are also claimed by Japan.
Based on reporting by Reuters, dpa, and Itar-Tass
From Reuters:
NATO SAYS THERE HAS BEEN "SIGNIFICANT PULLBACK" OF RUSSIAN FORCES FROM INSIDE UKRAINE, MANY THOUSANDS OF TROOPS REMAIN DEPLOYED NEAR BORDER
From ITAR-TASS. I believe the sources for the claim of the mass grave are pro-Russian separatists:
The Russian Investigative Committee will look into the mass burial discovered at a warehouse of the Donetsk Kommunar mine.
"Information about the killing of citizens whose bodies have been found in a mass grave near Donetsk will be verified by the Main Investigative Department of the Russian Investigative Committee as a part of the criminal inquiry into the use of prohibited means and methods of war against the civilian population in south-eastern Ukraine," Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin told Interfax on Wednesday.