Live Blog: A New Government In Ukraine (Archive Sept. 3, 2018-Aug. 16, 2019)

Ukraine's Sentsov Reportedly Ends Hunger Strike After Four Months

BREAKING: Russian media reports quoting the country's prison service say Ukrainian filmmaker Oleh Sentsov has halted his hunger strike after more than four months.

Sentsov, a Crimean native who opposed Russia's 2014 seizure of the Ukrainian peninsula, is serving a 20-year prison term after being convicted of terrorism in a trial that he, human rights groups, and Western governments contend was politically motivated.

More to follow.

We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back again tomorrow morning to follow all the latest developments. Until then, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.

Here's more on the U.S. Senate's Holodomor resolution, courtesy of RFE/RL Washington correspondent Mark Najarian:

U.S. Senate Passes Resolution On Ukraine Famine, A Move Hailed by Kyiv

Alexander Wienerberger was recruited into the army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire during World War I. In 1915, he was taken prisoner in Russia and ended up staying in the U.S.S.R. until 1934. Later, he worked as a chemical engineer specializing in explosives, and he established chemical factories in the Soviet Union. In 1933, he was assigned as technical director of a synthetic factory in Kharkiv and became witness to the man-made famine orchestrated by the Soviet government, the Holodomor. His photographs -- made with a Leica camera -- are some of about 100 images verified to be authentic portrayals of those harrowing events. The captions are based on the photographer's own notes.

(Click on picture to open gallery. Warning: Contains images that some may find disturbing)

WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Senate has backed a resolution on the 1930s-era Ukrainian famine known as the Holodomor, a move hailed by Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.

The Senate passed a "simple resolution" on October 3, commemorating the 85th anniversary of the famine of 1932-33, saying that the event "should serve as a reminder of repressive Soviet policies against the people of Ukraine."

Historians estimate as many as 9 million people died in the famine, which many Ukrainians consider to have been caused by Soviet central planners as an act of genocide, aimed at wiping out Ukrainian farmers.

In the U.S. Congress, simple resolutions are nonbinding, passed by only one chamber of Congress, and don't become law. Typically, they are used by lawmakers to usually back a pet project or endeavor, or a potentially political controversial issue without forcing a more public vote.

The resolution said the Senate recognized "the findings of the Commission on the Ukraine Famine, as submitted to Congress on April 22, 1988," that Soviet leader Josef Stalin "and those around him committed genocide against the Ukrainians in 1932–1933."

The Ukrainian Embassy in Washington described the resolution as the "first-ever legal act" of Congress recognizing the tragedy as a genocide, a highly charged term that is likely to anger Moscow.

Russian, and other historians, have stopped short of saying the famine was engineered to kill Ukrainians, noting that many other ethnic groups also suffered.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko hailed the resolution, writing on Facebook on October 4 that it was "another significant result of strengthening Ukraine-U.S. strategic partnership.”

"We hope that the rest of the world, including the EU, and international organizations, including the United Nations, will do the same," he added.

The office of Republican Senator Rob Portman, who sponsored the bill, did not immediately get back to RFE/RL for comment. The State Department also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Congress and individual states often pass resolutions that do not necessarily reflect overall U.S. policy.

The U.S. government has not recognized the Ukrainian famine as a "genocide," instead labeling it as a "criminal act of the Stalinist regime" against the people of Ukraine. The EU terms it an "appalling crime."

The Holodomor famine took place in 1932 and 1933 as Soviet authorities forced peasants in Ukraine to join collective farms by requisitioning their grain and other agricultural production.

Historians say the seizure of the 1932 crop by Soviet authorities was the main cause of the famine.

Along with Ukraine, at least 15 other countries have officially recognized Holodomor as "genocide."

Ukraine commemorates the event every November 28.

U.S. lawmakers have introduced similar resolutions in the past on politically charged historical events, like the massacre of Armenians in Turkey during World War I. Most historians and a growing number of countries consider the killings to constitute genocide.

But the measures have never passed a full vote in either the Senate or the House.

The White House, under pressure from Turkey, has stopped short of using the word "genocide" to describe the Ottoman-era massacre.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service

A tweet from Ulyana Suprun, Ukraine's acting health minister: