Here is today's situation map of eastern Ukraine by the National Security and Defense Council:
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Moscow has denied claims of an incursion by a Russian military plane into Estonia's airspace.
A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman told Interfax news agency on October 23 that the Ilyushin-20 took off from Khrabrovo airfield in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad on October 21.
The spokesman said the reconnaissance plane flew "over neutral waters of the Baltic Sea" while on a training flight.
On October 22, Estonia’s Foreign Ministry summoned the Russian ambassador in Tallinn, Yury Merzlakov, after the Estonian military said the Russian plane had entered its airspace.
In a statement, NATO said the Ilyushin-20 was first intercepted by Danish jets when it approached Denmark, before flying toward non-NATO member Sweden.
Intercepted by Swedish planes, the alliance said the Ilyushin entered Estonian airspace for “less than one minute” and was escorted out by Portuguese jets.
NATO has stepped up its Baltic air patrols and Moscow has been accused of several recent border violations in the region amid heightened tensions between Russia and the West over the Ukraine conflict.
Last month, Estonia accused Russia of abducting one of its police officers on the border.
Russia claim Eston Kohver was seized inside Russia on September 5, while Estonian officials say he was captured at gunpoint near the border and taken to Russia.
The European Union and United States have called for the immediate release of the Estonian security official, who is facing espionage charges in Russia.
Meanwhile, the Swedish Navy has been searching for a suspected submarine sighted six days ago some 50 kilometers from the capital, Stockholm, although it said on October 22 it was pulling back some of its ships.
Swedish officials have not linked any particular country to the suspected intrusion and Moscow has denied involvement.
Courtney Weaver of ft.com filed this entertaining piece from Luhansk, titled "Cafe Encounter Exposes Reality Of Russian Soldiers In Ukraine":
There are no active Russian servicemen in Ukraine – or so the Kremlin has been insisting for months.
Yet a recent encounter in the only functioning restaurant in war-torn Lugansk belied that claim. As the sounds of Celine Dion wafted from the sound system of the Weeping Willow café on a recent evening, half a dozen Russian soldiers sat down to a vodka-soaked dinner.
The men, dressed in the latest Russian army uniform, fanned out across two tables. As the 1994 ballad “Love Is All Around” came on the stereo, one comrade turned to another and asked if he had, by chance, seen the film Love Actually? You know, he added, the one with Keira Knightley.
Soon they invited two western journalists to join their table. One member of the group said he and the others had been in Lugansk for the past month, meaning that they arrived after the ceasefire the rebels signed with Kiev on September 5.
The men’s goal was “training the local population”, said the soldier, a native of Russia’s Voronezh region named Maxim. Asked if he and the others had come as volunteers, he replied sarcastically: “Sure, we’re volunteers. Nobody sent us here.” He continued on a more serious note. “They gave us an order: who wants to go volunteer? And we put our hands up like this,” he said, mocking someone being forced to put their hand up.
Read more here.
From the German news agency dpa:
Pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine said Thursday
that they intend to retake key cities from government troops in the region, according to Russian news agencies.
"Kramatorsk, Mariupol, Sloviansk will be ours. We are ready to
capture them. Heavy battles are not excluded," Alexander
Zakharchenko, the leader of the self-declared Donetsk People's
Republic, was quoted as saying.
The three cities returned to government control in the summer, after separatist militias gave them up. The takeover in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk occurred after heavy artillery battles between both sides.
Zakharchenko also accused the government of violating the ceasefire in the region.
Both sides have regularly accused each other of breaking the
ceasefire since it was reached on September 5.
The Ukrainian National Security Council said in Kiev on Thursday that one soldier was killed and two injured in fighting over the past 24 hours.
Fighting has centred on Donetsk airport in recent weeks. Donetsk authorities said Thursday that shelling could be heard widely through the city.
More than 3,600 people have been killed in the conflict since it
started in April, according to United Nations figures.
Ukraine is holding snap parliamentary elections this Sunday. The
party of President Petro Poroshenko is leading in polls with up to a third of the votes.
Poroshenko discussed the conflict and the ongoing gas talks with
Russia with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, his office said
Thursday. The leaders spoke over the telephone late Wednesday.
Also on Wednesday, Poroshenko discussed financial assistance from the European Union with outgoing EU Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.
The EU's aid for the cash-strapped country will reach 760 million
euros (960 million dollars), Barroso told Poroshenko, according to the Ukrainian leader's office.
Just in from Reuters:
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk on Thursday warned of possible attempts by Russia to disrupt Sunday's parliamentary election in Ukraine and ordered a full security mobilization to prevent "terrorist acts" being carried out.
"It is clear that attempts to destabilize the situation will continue and be provoked by the Russian side. They did not succeed during the presidential election (in May) ... but their plans have remained," he told a meeting of top security chiefs and election monitors.
"We need ... full mobilization of the whole law-enforcement system to prevent violations of the election process and any attempts at terrorist acts during the elections," he said.
Yatsenyuk's warning was likely to heighten tension before Sunday's poll, the first parliamentary election since the Euromaidan street protests last winter, which drove Moscow-backed leader Viktor Yanukovych to flee to Russia.