Just in from the French news agency AFP:
DONETSK, Ukraine, Oct 08, 2014 (AFP) -- Ukraine's eastern city Donetsk was under artillery fire Wednesday, with at least two people killed when shells hit an area northeast of the city center, AFP correspondents saw.
Rocket fire hit a neighborhood of the train station in the afternoon in the city controlled by the pro-Russian separatists. AFP correspondents saw two dead bodies near a cafe in the area.
Several injured people could be seen in the area after shells also hit a supermarket, a sports store, and a residential building.
Donetsk has come under increased fire in recent days despite a cease-fire between Kyiv and the pro-Russian separatists there, although it is often impossible to determine the origin of the attacks.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament, has passed in the first reading a bill aimed at compensating Russian individuals hit by Western sanctions.
The draft law would allow individuals affected by property seizures outside Russia to receive compensation from Russia's state budget.
The draft law would also allow Russian judges to order the confiscation of property of foreign states.
Members of Russian opposition parties opposed the bill and it passed only by a vote of 233 to 202.
Russian Economy Minister Aleksei Ulyukaev has warned that passage of the bill would accelerate already high levels of capital flight.
The law was first proposed in April but was withdrawn after a government memo criticized it as being against international law and the Russian Constitution.
It was resubmitted in September, one day after Italian authorities seized $40 million of property belonging to Arkady Rotenberg, a Russian businessman and longtime ally of President Vladimir Putin.
An excerpt from "Ukraine And The Art Of Limited War," an essay by Lawrence Freedman:
Ukrainian elections scheduled for 26 October are likely to see Russian sympathisers in the Kiev parliament marginalised. Ukraine finds itself severely weakened, with its economy in freefall and key territories out of its control. Poroshenko has accepted the need for compromise, in terms of more autonomy for the troubled regions and respect for Russian concerns. But he will not satisfy demands for complete separation or abandon closer relations with the EU. For its part, Russia therefore must decide on its own priorities: To protect Crimea, to prevent the integration of a truncated “Novorossiya” into Ukraine or to keep Ukraine away from the EU.
This uncertainty about the future confirms President Obama’s proposition that there cannot be a “military solution.” This became something of a mantra among NATO leaders up to and around the alliance’s Cardiff summit of early September 2014, taking place at the same time as the cease-fire negotiations in Minsk. Its effect at the time was to signal to both domestic audiences and Ukraine that NATO members were not going to get militarily involved. Combined with heavy combat losses, this may well have convinced Poroshenko not to continue to push back militarily against Russia and the separatists, and accept a cease-fire. At most, NATO countries have been prepared to supply forms of military assistance to help the Ukrainians resist further Russian advances.
This mantra was at one level self-evident but at another missed the point. Wars are political struggles and therefore any solution will be marked by a political settlement. The military situation on the ground, however, will hardly be irrelevant. In this case, September’s tentative settlement was far more advantageous for the Russian position as a result of its direct intervention than it would have been without it.
The full essay can be read here.
Here's what the Estonian president had to say about that essay by Lawrence Freedman, excerpted below:
An excerpt from a Reuters report titled "Women Take Up Arms On Both Sides Of Conflict In East Ukraine" by Gabriela Baczynska:
DONETSK/DNIPROPETROVSK, Ukraine, Oct 8 (Reuters) -- Before fighting broke out in eastern Ukraine, Irina was a croupier in a casino who never dreamt of taking up arms. Now she is gambling with her life.
Using the nom de guerre "Gaika", a cartoon character that translates as Gadget, she has joined an artillery unit in a pro-Russian separatist group fighting government forces.
"When your home is being destroyed, everything that is dear to you, friends, work ... It's about character. Girls who go into combat are real Russian women," she said in an interview, explaining why she joined up.
It has proved a tough experience but she has no regrets.
"Howitzers, large vehicles, the noise is what I will remember most," she said. "Painful memories go away. We try to focus on the positive, joyful, meeting friends. There are so many friends around now, the war is bringing people closer."
Her unit, based outside her hometown of Donetsk, the main rebel stronghold in eastern Ukraine, is part of a rebel militia called Oplot and includes six women - herself, three medics, a fighter and a reconnaissance specialist.
"I had doubts before allowing women in," said their commander Yesaul, a Cossack from the nearby Luhansk region.
"But now I actually have more trust in them then in men. Women don't drink and I am sometimes seriously worried seeing my men's condition when they are relaxing after a mission."
Read the full report here.