Good morning. We'll get the live blog started today with this item from RFE/RL's news desk:
Three Government Soldiers Killed In Eastern Ukraine, Despite Cease-Fire
Ukraine's military said on January 11 that three of its soldiers were killed and four wounded in clashes that took place in the eastern part of the country during the previous 24 hours.
A Defense Ministry statement said Russia-backed separatists violated a frequently-breached cease-fire seven times in skirmishes where separatists fired machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortars.
The separatists, meanwhile, claimed two civilians were wounded in mortar and rifle attacks by Ukrainian government forces.
Since April 2014, more than 10,300 people have been killed by fighting between Kyiv's forces and the Russia-backed separatists who control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Cease-fire deals announced as part of the Minsk accords -- September 2014 and February 2015 pacts aimed at resolving the conflict -- have failed to hold.
A new cease-fire agreement was reached in late 2017 and was meant to begin on December 23, but both sides have accused each other of cease-fire violations since then.
With reporting by Interfax and TASS
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Wednesday, January 10, 2018. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading and take care.
Protesters Block Checkpoints On Ukrainian-Polish Border
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Residents in Ukraine's western Lviv region have partially blocked four checkpoints along the frontier with Poland to protest against new border-tax regulations.
The checkpoints at Rava-Ruska, Shehyni, Yahodyn, and Krakovets were blocked for several hours on January 10, with the protesters allowing only vehicles carrying children and ill people to cross the border.
The protesters said they started collecting signatures for a petition calling on Ukraine’s president and lawmakers to cancel the new regulations that came in force as of January 1.
According to the amendments to the Tax Code adopted in December, individuals are allowed to bring up to 50 kilograms of goods into Ukraine without paying taxes if the price of the goods does not exceed 50 euros ($59.50).
Also, taxes are not due if the person bringing goods into Ukraine left the country for more than 24 hours and entered it no more than once in 72 hours. In that case, the price of the goods must not exceed 500 euros ($595).
Critics say the authorities are targeting shuttle vendors instead of fighting against corruption among border officials.
Many Ukrainians living close to the border with Poland travel to the other side of the border on a regular basis to buy goods.
Since June 2017, Ukrainians are allowed to travel to most European Union member states, including Poland, without a visa.