Pro-Kyiv military blogger Dmitry Tymchuk says there was no letup in fighting overnight and cites the "terrorists'" use of drones minutes ahead of an attack on a checkpoint.
Putin via Interfax:
"In fact, I would like to say that those in the United States who are behind foreign policy actions have unfortunately been holding a rather aggressive foreign policy for the past ten to fifteen years and, in my opinion, [this policy] is rather unprofessional. So, no matter what they do, they always have problems," he told reporters on Thursday.
He cited situations in various countries as examples.
"There are problems in Afghanistan, Iraq is breaking up and Libya is breaking up, and if Gen. El-Sisi had not taken control of Egypt, Egypt might be a complete mess now. They touched Ukraine and it had problems, as well," Putin said.
"[Russian Foreign Ministry] vows 'painful and acute' response to new USA sanctions - Interfax"
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports that President Petro Poroshenko says Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko -- who is being held in Russia, where she has been accused of a role in the deaths of two Russian journalists caught in a mortar attack in eastern Ukraine -- said yesterday during a long-sought meeting with a Ukrainian consul at her Voronezh detention center that she was captured by separatists in Ukraine, then handcuffed and hooded and taken to Russia.
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The Russian Foreign Ministry has posted a "comment" on its official website saying it is "disappointed that the European Union, contrary to its own interests, succumbed to the American administration's blackmail and has followed the path of sanctions with respect to Russia."
Here's the Kremlin's (so far partial) transcript of Putin's comments at a Brasilia press conference upon hearing the news of fresh U.S. sanctions. Amid an excoriation of Western measures related to Ukraine, the Russian president adds that "the door to the negotiation process for overcoming and getting past this situation remains open."