Poroshenko proposes keeping Yatsenyuk on as prime minister:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is proposing that Arseniy Yatsenyuk stay on as prime minister following the country's parliamentary elections last weekend.
"I have proposed that the Petro Poroshenko Bloc put forward Arseniy Yatsenyuk to the post of prime minister," Poroshenko wrote on Twitter on October 31.
Yatsenyuk's People's Front party narrowly beat out the Petro Poroshenko Bloc in voting by party in the October 26 election, according to a nearly complete count.
But Poroshenko's bloc fared better in first-past-the-post voting and was positioned to take more parliament seats than the People's Front, according to election commission data.
Yatsenyuk is a vocal critic of Russia and is popular among Western governments for his support for economic reforms. (with AFP)
Soldiers of the 93rd Mechanized Brigade were welcomed in Dnipropetrovsk after serving six months at the front fighting Russian-backed separatists. The troops received a traditional greeting of bread, salt, and flowers on October 30. Despite a cease-fire in place since September 5, fighting continues in various parts of eastern Ukraine. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
Government forces near Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine, have pulled back to new positions about 40 kilometers west of the city. But at Checkpoint 31, soldiers again came under fire on October 30 following two days of mortar and artillery attack, and RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service correspondent Levko Stek was there. The troops said they were being fired on with increasing frequency despite a cease-fire in place since early September.
Ballot box for this weekend's voting in Donetsk.
Highly speculative, obviously.