Addressing the UN General Assembly, Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite says the international community must protect Ukraine's sovereignty. She also denounces Russia's "illegal acts of aggression" in Ukraine.
From AFP and ITAR-TASS on results of the gas talks today in Berlin:
The EU says Russian gas giant Gazprom is prepared to send Ukraine some 5 billion cubic meters of gas when Kyiv pays some $2 billion next month. EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger says more trilateral talks are planned for next week.
More from our newsroom on Grybauskait's criticism of Moscow in New York:
Addressing the United Nations General Assembly, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite denounced Russia's "illegal acts of aggression" in Ukraine.
Speaking on September 26, Grybauskaite also called on the international community to protect Ukraine’s sovereignty.
In an interview with "The Washington Post” newspaper released on September 25, Grybauskaite said Russia is acting like a "terrorist" in Ukraine and in its intimidation of other neighbors.
She also criticized the West for a lack of leadership in standing up both to Russia in Ukraine and the Islamic State extremist group in Syria and Iraq.
Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula in March rattled nerves in Lithuania and its fellow Baltic states, Latvia and Estonia.
The three former Soviet republics won independence in 1991 and joined NATO and the European Union in 2004 in a bid to secure their independence.
With reporting by AFP
From our correspondent in Brussels, @RikardJozwiak, via the newsroom:
BRUSSELS -- The European Union, Ukraine, and Russia have agreed on an interim solution for natural gas flows which could prevent energy shortages in both Ukraine and EU countries this winter.
Speaking after a trilateral meeting in Berlin, EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger said Ukraine must pay $2 billion to Russia by the end of October and another $1.1 billion at the end of the year for outstanding bills.
If Moscow receives the 2 billion at the end of October plus a prepayment for new gas at $385 per 1,000 cubic meters of gas, Russia will deliver 5 billion cubic meters of gas to Ukraine.
If Kyiv wins its case at the Stockholm Court of Arbitration next year, it doesn't have to pay more than the $3.1 billion it is expected to pay by the end of 2014.
If Russia wins, Kyiv has to pay an additional $2.1 billion.
Effectively: "We were there. We watched and listened. We're here to help. Please end the bloodshed."
From Reuters on today's "buffer-zone" talks:
Talks began on Friday to mark out a 30-km (19-mile) buffer zone between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists in the country's east, but Moscow was coy about its role and denied that Russian military officials had taken part.
A statement by the military in Kiev said a Ukrainian team met a 76-member group of Russian officers north of the major Ukrainian city of Donetsk to work on establishing the zone, designed to put government and separatist forces out of striking range of each other.
"Today at 0800 a working group ... began its work. Representatives of the Ukrainian side, a monitoring group from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)and 76 Russian servicemen took part," a statement said.
An OSCE spokesman in Kiev, Michael Bociurkiw, said monitors from the 57-nation security and rights watchdog had observed Ukrainian and Russian military officers at preliminary talks in the town of Soledar.
ITAR-TASS quotes Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry Minister Yuriy Prodan as saying the price of natural gas proposed in talks by the European Union -- $385 per 1,000 cubic meters -- should not be dependent on the Russian government's intervention.
YATSENYUK SAYS UKRAINE WILL UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES RECALL NATURAL GAS SUIT FILED IN STOCKHOLM -- Interfax