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Ukrainian servicemen ride in a tank close to the airport in the eastern city of Donetsk, a facility which has been the site of intense fighting for several weeks.
Ukrainian servicemen ride in a tank close to the airport in the eastern city of Donetsk, a facility which has been the site of intense fighting for several weeks.

Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (Archive)

We have moved the Ukraine Crisis Live Blog. Sorry for any inconvenience. Please find it HERE.

22:06 5.11.2014

This ends our live-blogging for November 5. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.

22:04 5.11.2014

22:02 5.11.2014

21:24 5.11.2014

Amnesty International reacts to the reports of the children killed in Donetsk, as we reported earlier:

Two teenagers have died and four were wounded when an artillery shell hit a school playing field in eastern Ukraine.

The shell landed at a school close to Donetsk airport on November 5 as the teenagers were playing soccer.

London-based Amnesty International said the attack "must be fully investigated," adding that both sides in the conflict have been "failing to protect civilians."

There were reports earlier on November 5 of one civilian killed and several others wounded in mortar attacks in Donetsk.

The new violence comes as government forces and pro-Russian separatists accused each other of breaking a September 5 cease-fire agreement.

More than 4,000 people have died in eastern Ukraine since fighting erupted in April. (AFP and Interfax)

20:48 5.11.2014

20:48 5.11.2014

18:48 5.11.2014

18:45 5.11.2014

18:01 5.11.2014

According to Reuters, Russia is abandoning its increasingly expensive battle to prop up the tumbling ruble:

The rouble tumbled on Wednesday after Russia's central bank effectively abandoned the trading corridor for the currency, halting the multi-billion dollar daily interventions that had propped it up through sanctions and plunging oil revenues.

The bank announced it would limit daily interventions to just $350 million a day, saying this would mean the currency's price would now largely be set by the market, although it stopped short of formally abolishing the trading corridor.

The rouble, which has already lost almost a quarter of its value since the middle of this year, fell sharply, briefly reaching 45 roubles per dollar in late trade, its record-lowest. At 1550 GMT, the rouble was down 2.4 percent against the dollar at 44.67.

Plunging oil prices and Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis have shrivelled Russia's exports and investment inflows, driving the currency down. Moscow had already officially planned to float its currency at the end of this year, but now appears to have been forced by its worsening finances to unmoor the currency sooner than planned.

A rapid fall in the rouble could be a political setback for President Vladimir Putin, who remains hugely popular despite the imposition of Western sanctions over his policy of seizing territory from neighbouring Ukraine and supporting rebels there.

17:56 5.11.2014

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