Some details from our Georgian Service about the Georgian casualty we reported here over the weekend:
Azov Volunteer Is Fourth Georgian National Killed In Ukraine Unrest
Giorgi Janelidze, who was fighting for the right-wing Azov battalion, became the third Georgian national to have been killed fighting pro-Russian forces in Ukraine when he died during mine-clearance work near Shyrokyne, in the Donetsk region, on April 18. Other fighters came under fire from separatist forces as they were trying to recover the body, and it took a full day to retrieve it, with the support of OSCE personnel.
Another Georgian national was killed in Ukraine more than a year ago, during the Maidan unrest that targeted Ukrainian government forces under then-President Viktor Yanukovych.
More than 60 Georgians, mostly former military officers, are currently estimated to be fighting on the side of various pro-Kyiv groups.
About a dozen Georgians are reportedly fighting on the side of pro-Russian separatists.
Ukrainian journalist Oles Buzyna, who was gunned down last week in Kyiv, was laid to rest on Sunday in a funeral attended by several hundred mourners. Some of them chanted “murderers” and “fascists” -- comments aimed at the Ukrainian authorities, whom they accuse of orchestrating Buzyna’s killing because of his pro-Russian views. An adviser to Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has suggested that Russia may have ordered the killing for propaganda purposes. (Video by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
TASS quotes Lavrov as expressing Russian opposition to a change in format for Ukraine peace talks:
Moscow is opposed to diluting the format of the Contact Group on Ukraine and attracting some outside experts, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.
"Right now, there are attempts to link the beginning of work of Contact Group subgroups to new requirements, which were never discussed with anyone, to attract to the work of these subgroups outside experts, moderators, representatives of international NGOs. We are opposed to diluting the Contact Group format," he said.
"Such format should be implemented in its working mechanisms, and we speak against deluging them with certain outside experts no one has ever heard about," Lavrov added.
Here is today's map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
