Meanwhile in Crimea...
The building of the Crimean Tatars' self-governing body, the Mejlis (Assembly), has been impounded by Russia's Federal Bailiffs Service.
Some 15 bailiffs arrived at the Mejlis today and requested all people to leave in accordance with a Simferopol court ruling that all property and bank accounts of the Qirim (Crimea) Foundation -- including the Mejlis building -- be impounded.
The chairman of the Crimean Tatar Qurultay (Congress), Zair Smeldyaev, said at the Mejlis today that nobody can order an eviction of the building until a September 22 scheduled hearing on the matter.
The majority of Crimean Tatars opposed Russia's March annexation of Crimea from Ukraine and boycotted local elections on September 14.
On September 15, three masked, armed men removed a Ukrainian flag from the Mejlis building and Russian security forces searched it the next day.
(Reporting by the Crimean Unit of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
Rally in Donetsk supportind independent Scotland small,but message is big: promise of armed support pic.twitter.com/2eAGAcBlSE #indyref #Ukraine
— Olga Tokariuk (@olgatokariuk) September 18, 2014
Петро @poroshenko прибув до США. Фото: М. Палінчак pic.twitter.com/s7jdCuyhfm
— Українська правда (@ukrpravda_news) September 18, 2014
There is a ceasefire but for some reason everyone around this gun including @GrahamWP_UK is wearing ear protection pic.twitter.com/brjPEFLDaI
— Daniel Sandford (@BBCDanielS) September 18, 2014
Interfax quotes Ukraine's former president Kuchma saying the next round of the contract group talks on eastern Ukraine is tomorrow.
— Nataliya Vasilyeva (@NatVasilyevaAP) September 18, 2014
Sasha, a Donbass Battalion soldier, shows where a bullet pierced his neck during the fight for #Ilovaisk last month. pic.twitter.com/C4S2FTHSdZ
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 18, 2014
Ukraine economy deteriorating but reforms on track, @EBRD says. Predicts GDP contraction of 9% 2014 & 3% 2015. Ouch! pic.twitter.com/r0sQJLg3OA
— Maxim Eristavi (@MaximEristavi) September 18, 2014
Ukraine President @Poroshenko has begun his working visit to the US. https://t.co/H6t8fwNm4R
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) September 18, 2014
Here's another update from our news desk:
Kyiv says Russia has massed 4,000 troops in Crimea near the land bridge that links the annexed peninsula with Ukraine’s southern region of Kherson.
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko on September 18 said the Russian forces were deployed “with all their equipment and ammunition.”
He said Kyiv has reinforced its forces in eastern Ukraine with more troops and new equipment amid a shaky two-week-old cease-fire with pro-Russian separatists.
Lysenko spoke hours before Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was to address the U.S. Congress and meet President Barack Obama.
On September 16, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said a top Russian military priority was to increase its presence in Crimea.
Russia’s annexation of Crimea in March has been declared illegal by the United States, the European Union, and the UN General Assembly.
(Reuters, AP, AFP, DPA, ITAR-TASS, and Interfax)
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is about to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress, so stay tuned as we'll be following it live here.
A very relaxed-looking Poroshenko is now in the House chamber. He recieved quite a welcome and it took a good few minutes for him to make his way to the podium.
He's about to speak now:
Speaking in fluent English, he praises the United States for the unity of its Congress and its solidarity with Ukraine.
He is now praising the men and women of Ukraine who are now "standing on the forefront of the global battle for democracy." His words receive a short standing ovation.
He praises those U.S. politicians who "stood with" the protesters on the Maidan. He also takes time to praise the so-called "heavenly hundred" protesters who were killed in one day on the Maidan last winter.
Making reference to the Budapest Memorandum, he calls the Russian annexation of Crimea and act of "criminal treachery" and criticizes Russia's "imperial mindset."
Citing Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and other frozen conflicts, Poroshenko urges the world not to let Ukraine "stand alone."
He says democracies must stand together...or they will be eliminated.