Some recent caricatures and editorial cartoons by cartoonist Oleksiy Kustovskiy of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
From RFE/RL's news desk:
Both sides in the conflict in eastern Ukraine are claiming territorial gains as fighting persists amid a diplomatic push for peace.
The volunteer Azov Battalion said on social media on February 10 that it captured several villages northeast of Mariupol, pushing Russian-backed separatists away from the stratgeic Azov Sea port city.
Rebel military spokesman Eduard Basurin said late on February 9 that separatist forces have surrounded the town of Debaltseve, a transport hub, cutting it off from a major highway.
Most of Debaltseve's 25,000 residents have been evacuated.
Debaltseve has been the site of some of the fiercest fighting in a monthlong escalation of hostilities in the conflict, which has killed more than 5,350 people since April.
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Stelmakh said on February 10 that there had been "an increase in attacks by the enemy on Ukrainian positions" in eastern Ukraine in the previous 24 hours.
He said seven Ukrainian soldiers were killed and 23 wounded.
The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France may meet on February 11 for talks aimed at ending the conflict.
Moscow says it will respond diplomatically if U.S.arms Ukraine:
The head of the Kremlin’s Security Council says that if the United States decides to supply weapons to Ukraine, Russia will most likely respond "diplomatically" rather than with military action.
Nikolai Patrushev was quoted by Russia’s state-run TASS news agency on February 10 as saying that U.S. weapons shipments to Ukrainian government forces would "be a further escalation of the conflict" in eastern Ukraine.
But asked about possible military retaliation by Russia if U.S. weapons deliveries are made, Patrushev said: "No, I think we will act diplomatically."
The United States, NATO, the European Union, and Kyiv have accused Russia of deploying troops and heavy weaponry into eastern Ukraine to support pro-Russian separatists there.
Despite growing evidence to support those allegations, President Vladimir Putin continues to deny that Russian forces and weaponry have been sent into eastern Ukraine. (Reuters, TASS, Interfax)