Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item from our news desk on the situation regarding Nadiya Savchenko:
Sergei Naryshkin, the speaker of the State Duma, Russia's lower house of parliament, told reporters in Strasbourg that the decision whether to free detained Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko would be made by a Russian court.
Speaking on January 25 after a meeting with Anne Brasseur, the president of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Naryshkin said Savchenko "is accused of involvement in a serious crime -- the killing of two Russian journalists."
Naryshkin said, "Only an investigation, and the court can establish guilt; and if guilt is not proven, then she [Savchenko] will be freed."
On January 21, it was reported that Brasseur had appealed to Naryshkin to secure the release of Savchenko so she could attend the opening session of PACE on January 26.
Savchenko was captured by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine last June, then transferred to Russian custody the next month.
In October, Savchenko won a seat in Ukraine's parliament as a candidate from Ukrainian politician Yulia Tymoshenko's Batkivshchyna party. The following month, Tymoshenko announced Savchenko would be one of Ukraine's representatives in PACE.
(TASS, Interfax)
We are now closing the live blog for today. Until we resume tomorrow morning, you can follow all our ongoing Ukraine coverage here.
Here is a map of today's military situation in the Donbas region issued by Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council (click image to enlarge):
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).
