Here is an update from RFE/RL's news desk:
Russian human rights group, Memorial, has strongly condemned comments made by a Donetsk separatist leader who said he would order rebels fighting against Ukrainian government troops not to take any more prisoners.
Memorial said in a statement on January 24 that Aleksandr Zakharchenko's order to rebels violates the Geneva Conventions and amounts to a war crime.
Speaking after a deadly Donetsk bus attack that he blamed on government forces, Zakharchenko said on January 23: "After this tragedy, I will give the order not to take any more prisoners. We don't need swaps."
"I don't even want to hear about swapping captives anymore. If we swap, then one for one, by units," Zakharchenko said.
"Respected Ukrainian mothers – you are sending your children to their deaths here!" he added.
Memorial said the Geneva Conventions prohibit the issuance of orders not to leave anyone alive, making such threats, or conducting military actions on this basis.
Here's a video issued by our multimedia department showing fighting at a Ukrainian Army checkpoint in eastern Ukraine:
Firefights broke out at a Ukrainian army checkpoint between the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. On January 24, the 40th Battalion's 17th Tank Brigade came under attack at Debaltseve from the direction of Luhansk. (RFE/RL Ukrainian Service correspondent Levko Stek).
RFE/RL's news desk has issued this item on Obama's reaction to the rocket attacks on Mariupol:
U.S. President Barack Obama has expressed alarm over cease-fire violations in eastern Ukraine following rocket assaults that killed 30 people and injured more than 90 in the government-held city of Mariupol.
"We are deeply concerned about the latest break in the cease-fire," Obama said at a press conference in New Delhi on January 25.
Obama blamed "separatists with Russian backing, Russian equipment, Russian financing, Russian training and Russian troops" for the escalation of the situation in eastern Ukraine.
Obama pledged to "ratchet up the pressure on Russia" in cooperation with U.S. allies, saying he would look at all options short of military confrontation.
Kyiv said Mariupol had been targeted on January 24 with three separate strikes by Grad rockets fired from separatist-held areas.
The rebels claimed Ukrainian forces were behind the attacks.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) said the rockets came from rebel-held areas.
(AFP, unian.net, tsn.ua)