And Ukrainian lawmakers have taken a further step toward punitive measures against Russia, passing unanimously with 65 abstentions the first reading of a bill -- whose outlines were presented last week by Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk -- to level sanctions against Russian companies and individuals, agencies report. A final reading is expected tomorrow.
Here's more from our newsroom:
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has championed the bill, saying that it enables Kyiv to block energy deliveries and air transit through its territory.
Yatsenyuk has threatened to blacklist 172 officials and 65 entities from Russia and other unspecified countries.
However, any sanctions would need approval by Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.
The European Union has warned that Ukraine should not halt transit flows of Russian gas.
About half of the EU's gas imports from Russia run through Ukraine.
Russian politicians said on August 12 that Moscow would retaliate in response to any sanctions.
Based on reporting by Reuters and dpa
Reuters quotes a "source" as saying EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is prepared to convene a special foreign ministers' meeting as early as this week on Ukraine, Iraq.
The United Nations rights office says more than 60 people a day have been killed or wounded in eastern Ukraine since mid-April, pushing the list of injured to nearly 5,000 people, Reuters reports.
Russian media report that a "camp" set up early this morning by Ukrainian authorities near the Pletenivka checkpoint in the Kharkiv region -- purportedly in connection with the Russian aid convoy -- was dismantled and vehicles and personnel were leaving the area.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was quoted as telling "Saechsischen Zeitung" that "I am trying not to allow the sanctions to undermine the thread of talks with the Russian president," according to dpa, adding, "I've always argued for cooperating constructively with Russia and I'm ready to do so in future...but constructive dialogue must come from more than one."
The Polish Foreign Ministry today summoned the Russian ambassador to protest remarks by Russian nationalist politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky.
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslav Sikorski said Zhirinovsky's suggestion on Russian TV last week that Poland and the Baltic states would be "wiped out" if war breaks out between Russia and the West was "scandalous."
He said Zhirinovsky, a lawmaker and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, "is neither a backbencher nor a private person."