That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for today. Check back in this space on Monday morning for more of our continuing coverage.
Thousands have fled eastern Ukraine since the conflict erupted in April. Some have since returned. Other people chose to stay and tough it out. From teachers to pensioners to families with children, residents of rebel-held towns are struggling to get on with their lives amid the chaos and uncertainty.
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service continues to publish their testimonies. The names of the authors of the letters have been changed for security reasons.
Here's an excerpt from the latest letters:
Many local residents describe Donetsk's bomb shelters as hell on earth. Dirt, stench, tears, and blood. Bunkers are full of makeshift beds covered with multicolored pieces of cloth and blankets and bed linens of various degrees of freshness. It's damp and cold.
Anyone who has spent even just a week under shelling suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder. There are currently hundreds, maybe thousands, of people in Donetsk with post-traumatic stress disorder. They almost never leave the bomb shelters, although no one is shelling them anymore. Whenever they go out, they jump at every noise, some of them collapse and go into hysterics…
Heart attacks and strokes are common. But, of course, no data is available anywhere about post-traumatic stress disorder. Doctors are starting to talk about suicides. Nobody knows how many people died from the consequences of the war, either.
Read the letters in full here.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Ukrainian authorities have arrested a journalist for suspected treason after he posted an online video (above) calling on Ukrainians to refuse to be drafted into military service.
Ruslan Kotsaba, a reporter in Ukraine's western city of Ivano-Frankivsk, was taken into custody by Ukraine's SBU security service.
SBU adviser Markian Lubkivskyi announced the arrest February 8 on his Facebook page, saying Kotsaba is suspected of committing acts of treason and espionage.
The arrest comes after Ukraine on January 20 launched its fourth wave of mobilization, sending notices to 100,000 Ukrainians eligible for military service.
On January 17, Kotsaba posted a 12-minute video on social media explaining his objections to military service and calling on fellow Ukrainians to boycott the mobilization.
At least 1,200 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in 10 months of fighting against pro-Russian rebels in the country's eastern Donbas region.
Ukraine's Defense Ministry says more than 1,300 criminal investigations have been opened against suspected draft-dodgers.
From AFP:
The United States on Sunday called on all sides in the Ukraine conflict to refrain from any actions that undercut current peace efforts and voiced concern about renewed "fierce fighting".
"We call on all parties to refrain from actions that undercut the current diplomacy," said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki, who was travelling with Secretary of State John Kerry in Germany.
"We continue to support the ongoing diplomatic efforts by our European colleagues and remain in lockstep that any agreement must respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine," she said.
The French, German and Ukrainian leaders are planning with Russian President Vladimir Putin to meet Wednesday in an urgent bid to hammer out a peace deal.
The four spoke by phone on Sunday as part of efforts to achieve a "comprehensive settlement" to end 10 months of fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian rebels in the east which has cost some 5,400 lives.
"Secretary Kerry will remain closely engaged, as he has over the course of the last few days in Ukraine and Munich, as the discussions continue," Psaki said, referring to Kerry's visits to Kiev and the Munich Security Conference in Germany.
Psaki said the United States remained "concerned about the fierce fighting today in Debaltseve and Mariupol, and press references to new Russian convoys into eastern Ukraine.
Here is today's situation map of eastern Ukraine by the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
