Here is the latest map of the situation in eastern Ukraine, issued today by Kyiv's National Security and Defense Council:
Video appears to show Oplot-operated Grad rockets fired inside residential #Dokuchaievsk S of #Donetsk https://t.co/60mli8kMQn #ceasefire
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 27, 2014
Entrance bridge to my hometown TT @agap7180 Welcome to #Chernihiv pic.twitter.com/OAAEQw7Wqh
— Myroslava Petsa (@myroslavapetsa) September 27, 2014
@myroslavapetsa @agap7180 Whoa. That is intense.
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 27, 2014
[VIDEO] Rebels in eastern Ukraine keep border with Russia open http://t.co/d4wP3ZqcUX
— Paul Gypteau (@paulgypteau) September 27, 2014
Ukraine's Anti-terrorist Operation & Donetsk city hall both report shelling continues around Debaltseve, Donetsk and other sites. #ceasefire
— Gulliver Cragg (@gullivercragg) September 27, 2014
Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with a hat tip to Bloomberg View, whose editors have been forthrightly arguing against Ukraine's joining NATO.
Of the many reasons it is a bad idea for Ukraine to attempt to join NATO, the most obvious is that NATO does not want it. This much was clear at the recent alliance summit in the U.K., where an uncomfortable Poroshenko had to bat away questions about potential membership. When Poroshenko then traveled to Washington to ask President Barack Obama for special status as a "major non-NATO ally," the answer was a blunt no.
To understand why the NATO members are so opposed, consider two very hypothetical scenarios: First, imagine for a moment that NATO, which is already struggling to convince its easternmost members that it would indeed fight for them if Russia should attack, were foolish enough to encourage Ukraine to join. Ukraine, a divided and almost bankrupt nation of 45 million, would first have to receive a Membership Action Plan and then meet its conditions -- a process that would take many years. (Albania, which joined NATO in 2009, got its MAP in 1999.) So starting the process would merely set the clock ticking for Russia to do whatever it takes to prevent its neighbor from joining -- from rekindling the war to eastern Ukraine to making a full-scale invasion.
Next, imagine that Ukraine were, miraculously, to succeed in joining NATO. It would only further destabilize the country. Even though Russia has lately done much to unite most Ukrainians against it, the east of the country still has strong cultural and historical ties to Russia. As long as the Kremlin sees and portrays NATO as a threat, a substantial share of Ukraine's population will want no part of it. Before the annexation of Crimea, in 2010, 51 percent of Ukrainians opposed joining NATO. (In the east, 72 percent did.) Even today, polls suggest that less than half of Ukrainians want to join the alliance.
Ukraine deserves U.S. and European support in its effort to ward off a predatory power next door and remain truly independent. It should have the right to develop ties and common standards with the European Union if it wants. Yet a country with Ukraine's history cannot suddenly join a military alliance that was formed to confront Russia, without asking for trouble.
Read the entire Bloomberg View editorial here
That concludes our live blogging for Friday, September 26. You can follow continuing coverage of events in Ukraine and around our region HERE.
Let's wrap up with the summary of today's potential breakthrough over gas, via our newsroom:
Ukraine, Russia Strike Interim Gas Deal
Russians continue to try to tally their dead from the Ukraine conflict despite efforts to hinder the death count. From the "Kyiv Post":
Eleva Vasilieva, a human rights activist and the group’s founder, says that the total number of deaths of Russian soldiers and mercenaries in Ukraine warfare could be about 4,000.