Latest from our news desk on the Party of Regions not taking part in upcoming parliamentary elections:
The former political party of ousted Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych says it will not take part in early parliamentary elections, scheduled for October 26.
Party of Regions Executive Secretary Borys Kolesnikov said on September 14 that the party’s political council has “decided against taking part in the elections" in the midst of a war.
With a pro-Russia platform, the Party of Regions has its electoral and financial base primarily in eastern and southeastern Ukraine.
The party won 185 parliamentary seats in the 2012 elections and formed a parliamentary faction that included 210 deputies.
The party condemned and disassociated itself from Yanukovych on February 23.
Since then, more than 120 lawmakers have left the party’s parliamentary faction.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko dissolved the parliament in August and scheduled the October 26 vote, calling it a move toward "cleansing" the legislature.
It's been a pretty slow day news wise. Barring any major development, we're wrapping up the live blog for today.
Good morning. We are resuming our live blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Monday, September 15.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey speaking on Sunday at a news conference in Kyiv about what he says is the delivery of arms to Ukraine by unspecified NATO nations:
"We were reaching agreements in closed talks [with Western allies], without media, about about weapons we currently need. Please understand me, I cannot disclose any specific country we have reached agreements with. Nevertheless, the fact is that those weapons are already on their way to us. That's absolutely true, I can officially tell you."
"We need the kind of weapons that would stop [Russian President Vladimir] Putin [from advancing into Ukraine]. If that's a multiple missile rocket-launch system -- without telling you the details about those weapons, then we need to know that if a rocket is launched in our direction that we are capable in a matter of seconds to get our rocket launched against them in response. If this kind of answer suffices, then I can say that this is the sort of weaponry we are talking about."