Here are more details of the prisoner release in Donetsk, from RFE/RL's news desk:
Pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine's eastern region of Donetsk have freed 16 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
The release happened on April 6 and the separatists said that it was a unilateral gesture.
Darya Morozova, the so-called ombudsman of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR), said the 16 were the last Ukrainian soldiers held as prisoners by the DNR.
The Ukrainian news website UNIAN posted a photograph of the soldiers boarding a bus.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko confirmed on his Twitter account the release of "16 of our heroes" and said they were already on route to the town of Kramatorsk.
(UNIAN, Interfax)
Today, RFE/RL published the fourth instalment in its Letters From Donbas series. Here is an excerpt from one the latest dispatches to come out of the war-torn region.It describes the situation in the town of Debaltseve:
Everything has been looted and destroyed.
People stand in long lines to get humanitarian aid and prepare food under the open sky. Practically all the buildings in the center have been seized by Debaltseve militants, destroyed or damaged. To assess the humanitarian situation, it is enough to look at the gray-with-hunger faces of its residents. There is also nowhere to live. People live in basements, get sick, and die.
There is no medicine. According to my calculations, more than 80 percent of the buildings in Debaltseve were destroyed during the war. The kindergartens and other institutions are closed. They have been promising to reopen the central city hospital since February 25.
There is another hospital by the train station, completely destroyed.
The city is full of mines; it's dangerous to walk anywhere. There is no electricity. Every day they bring in bread and hot tea and distribute it for free. Under Ukrainian control, we even got canned food, grains and potatoes. For now, we are still getting bread and tea. However they said that something was delivered by the International Red Cross.
My countrymen are living in unsanitary conditions; they are hungry and cold. In Debaltseve the problems don't end with electricity. There is no gas or water. Few people have stayed. Usually no more than 200 city residents wait in lines to receive humanitarian aid. All these people are elderly.
The last weeks before the departure of the Ukrainian army, the attacks did not abate – a number of buildings came under fire. Since the end of January, Debaltseve has been without heating. Since the beginning of February, it has been without light and water.
Around 6,000 or 8,000 thousand people remained in the city. This is around 30 percent of the original population. They mainly sit in their basements because it is cold in their apartments. They prepare food near their driveways on a fire, outside. In addition to this, most of them don't have any money at all, which is why they can't leave the city.
Read the entire article here
We are now closing the live blog for today. Until we resume again tomorrow, you can keep up with all our ongoing Ukraine news coverage here.
Good morning. Some news from overnight.
Ukrainian-Born Classical Pianist Fired For Pro-Rebel Comments
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has sacked a Ukrainian-born classical pianist because of her political commentary on social-media sites in support of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Valentina Lisitsa said on April 6 on her Facebook page that she had been dropped from the symphony because she "exercised the right to free speech."
Toronto Symphony Orchestra CEO Jeff Melanson said in a statement that "Lisitsa's provocative comments had overshadowed past performances" and that her contract was being cancelled.
Paul Grod, president of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, said Lisitsa calls the Ukrainian government "Nazi" and claims it sets up "filtration camps" for ethnic Russians.
Lisitsa, who was born in Kyiv in 1973, immigrated to the United States in 1991. She says her ethnic background is Russian and Polish.
Canada is home to some 1.25 million people of Ukrainian heritage and Ottawa has been a strong supporter of Ukraine's fight against Russian-backed rebels.
And here she is: