Latest from our news desk:
Ukraine has signed a deal to purchase weapons from the United Arab Emirates.
Viktor Muzhenko, the chief of staff of the Ukrainian military, signed the agreement on February 24 during a visit to IDEX-2015 (International Defense Exhibition & Conference) in Abu Dhabi.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko was also in Abu Dhabi and attended the signing of the agreement, calling the visit to the U.A.E. "extremely successful."
There were no details about what military equipment and weapons Ukraine is purchasing from the U.A.E.
In Ukraine, lawmaker and adviser to Interior Minister Anton Gerashchenko said, "Arabs, unlike Europeans and Americans, are not scared by Putin's threats to unleash the third world war in the case of delivering arms and military equipment to Ukraine."
Meanwhile, in Britain, Prime Minister David Cameron announced on February 24 that his country would send military personnel to Ukraine in the next month to help train the Ukrainian army.
Latest from our news desk:
The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, France, and Germany have called for Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to adhere to the Minsk cease-fire agreement.
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, reading from a joint statement after the ministers held talks in Paris on February 24, urged the fighting sides to "start with a total cease-fire and [then] complete a withdrawal of heavy weapons."
Although fighting decreased after the peace deal was signed on February 12, mortar shelling and other violations have been reported, particularly near the southern port city of Mariupol.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov described the Paris talks as "useful" and left early for Moscow.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said the talks had been "difficult."
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said the four had agreed on some "technical aspects" and support for an extension of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe monitoring mission in Ukraine.
Barring any major developments, that ends the live blogging for today.
Apart from this:
You can find the Amnesty International annual report on The State Of The World's Human Rights in 2014-15 here.
Concerning Ukraine (beginning on page 382), the report criticizes security forces' response to Euromaidan, as well as Russian occupiers in Crimea for disappearances and suppression, pro-Russian fighters and pro-Kyiv forces for summary justice during the conflict in eastern Ukraine, and "scant regard for civilians caught in the crossfire."
Here's our newsroom's writeup of the report:
Amnesty International Condemns 'Shameful' Global Response To Rights Abuses
Doug Schoen asserts flatly in Forbes that "Russian And Ukraine Are At War." Here's an excerpt:
It goes without saying that by this point no competent Western leader should take the wily Vladimir Putin at his word.
The movement of Russian forces into Ukraine signals that the Kremlin is invested in this conflict and is willing to devote significant resources, not to mention take great risks, in pursuit of victory.
America and the West must be no less invested in achieving peace, defending sovereignty, and protecting international norms by refusing to allow Russia to achieve its aims in Ukraine.
By sending regular Russian army forces into Ukraine, Putin shows that he understands the importance of this fight.
More detail on British government's plans for Ukraine military aid:
An odd story indeed.
On this, the 75th day of the Ukrainian military pilot's ongoing hunger strike in Russian detention, Nadia Savchenko's defense team says it has provided Russian authorities with "exhaustive procedural grounds" for releasing her from pretrial detention to "any other" method of restraint.
She is reportedly still on a water and glucose diet.