Some images from the Right Sector demo today that we mentioned earlier:
Prime Minister Yatsenyuk has told the government that 1 million civil servants will be screened under the so-called lustration law to fight corruption and rid the system of people loyal to ousted President Viktor Yanukovych, who fled to Russia in February.
From Reuters:
EU officials have agreed new measures to help food producers hit by a Russian ban on agricultural imports and will publish them over the coming days, the European Commission said.
Moscow in August imposed a one-year embargo on meat, fish, dairy, fruit and vegetables from the United States, the European Union, Canada, Australia and Norway in retaliation for Western sanctions over Moscow's involvement in the Ukraine crisis.
EU farm exports to Russia are worth some 11 billion euros ($14.3 billion) annually, or roughly 10 percent of the bloc's agricultural sales. The Russian embargo has affected EU products worth 5 billion euros, said the Commission, the EU executive.
Following debate with representatives of the 28 member states on Tuesday, the Commission is finalising the text and budget for a new compensation scheme and expects to make an announcement in the coming days, spokesman Roger Waite said.
"Official publication is expected early next week, with new rules entering into force straight away," he said.
Waite said he could not yet give a figure for the budget.
From Interfax:
The Russian Emergency Situations Ministry has asked the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to be more active in the delivery and distribution of humanitarian aid in south-eastern Ukraine.
"The Red Cross should be more active in the issues of the delivery and provision of humanitarian aid to the population of south-eastern Ukraine. The Red Cross should take a firmer position so that we are not stranded on the border for three weeks," Deputy Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Stepanov said at a meeting of the committee on public support to residents of south-eastern Ukraine on Wednesday.
From our news desk. More on the civilians killed in Donetsk:
Local authorities say two civilians have been killed in fighting in the rebel-held eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk.
Donetsk city council said the civilians were killed near a market and that three people were injured.
It was not clear exactly how or when the deaths occurred.
They appeared to be the first reported in eastern Ukraine since the national parliament in Kyiv passed a law on September 16 granting limited self-rule to pro-Russian separatists in an effort to end a conflict that has killed more than 3,000 people since April.
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on September 17 that Ukrainian forces were abiding by a September 5 cease-fire and accused rebels and Russian troops of firing at army positions, "particularly near Donetsk airport."
Government forces currently hold the airport.
Russia denies it has sent troops into eastern Ukraine.
More Strelkov:
Yatsenyuk on the lustration law:
Ukraine's prime minister says about 1 million civil servants are subject to screening under a new law aimed to purge the system of the corrupt practices associated with ousted President Viktor Yanukovych's government.
"According to our estimates, about 1 million civil servants of different kinds will come under this law, including the whole cabinet of ministers, the interior ministry, the intelligence services, the prosecutor's office," Arseniy Yatsenyuk told a cabinet meeting on September 17.
Ukraine's parliament adopted the "lustration" law on September 16, after failing to pass the legislation in two earlier votes.
Passage of such a law had been one of the main demands during the mass street protests that drove Yanukovych from power in Feburary.
Several hundred protesters rallied outside parliament on September 16, waving Ukrainian flags and burning tires to demand that lawmakers approve the legislation.