Here is a wrap from our news desk of comments in Kyiv by the OSCE's Micael Bociurkiw:
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says the risk of an escalation in violence in conflict-wracked eastern Ukraine is "rising."
Michael Bociurkiw of the OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine told a press conference in Kyiv on November 11 that more than two months after a cease-fire agreement between Ukraine and the pro-Russian separatists, "the firing has not ceased."
There are concerns that pro-Russian rebels could be gearing up for a fresh offensive in eastern Ukraine despite the September 5 agreement.
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on November 5 reiterated that EU member states were considering extending travel bans to newly-elected separatist officials in eastern Ukraine.
However, Merkel, speaking in Berlin, said the European Union was not planning new sanctions against Russia.
(AFP, Reuters)
And now for an MH17 update from RFE/RL's news desk:
Dutch experts have arrived near the Malaysia Airlines crash site in eastern Ukraine, hoping to recover debris from the airliner.
The passenger was jet shot down in July over rebel-held territory, killing all 298 people on board, the majority from the Netherlands.
The head of the recovery team, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, said today that the experts were "absolutely ready" to start collecting debris.
But rebels were quoted as saying negotiations stumbled over a protocol on gathering the wreckage.
Ukraine and Western countries accuse pro-Russian separatists of shooting the plane down with a Russian-supplied missile, a charge denied by the rebels and Moscow.
In Beijing, Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks today with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott on the sidelines of an Asian summit.
The Kremlin said both men called for the probe to be speeded up.
Abbott has said he would "shirtfront" Putin over the plane's downing when he hosts a G20 summit in Australia on November 15-16, meaning he would not mince words.
Twenty-seven of the victims were Australians.
(AFP, BBC)
A somewhat telling repored comment from Kazakhstan's President Nursultan Nazarbaev:
The first anniversary of the start of the Maidan protests in Kyiv -- November 21, 2013 -- is just around the corner. We've prepared a quiz to help you refresh your memory of those early days, which seem so long ago now:
Quiz: Remembering The Maidan
On the night of November 21, 2013, hundreds of Ukrainians gathered on Kyiv's Independence Square, upset by the government's decision to suspend preparations for an agreement on closer ties with the European Union. How well do you remember the events that sparked the 2014 Ukrainian revolution?
Take the quiz here
Here's an item from our news desk on the Savchenko trial in Moscow:
A Moscow court has started a hearing into a complaint filed by Nadiya Savchenko, a Ukrainian air force pilot who is being held in Russia on charges of complicity in the deaths of two Russian journalists in eastern Ukraine.
Savchenko lodged a protest against a psychological examination conducted at a Moscow mental health facility.
The hearing was initially scheduled for October 27 but was postponed until November 11 because she was not brought to the courtroom from the hospital.
Court officials said the hearing was being held behind closed doors because it involves private information about Savchenko's health, court officials said.
Savchenko says she was captured by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine on June 18 and "illegally transferred" to Russian custody in July.
Investigators have said she was detained in Russia.
Savchenko won a seat in Ukraine's parliament last month.
(TASS, UNIAN)