Kyiv says five killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine:
By RFE/RL
Ukraine says two of its soldiers has been killed and one wounded as a result of clashes with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The Defense Ministry said on October 17 that separatist fighters violated a cease-fire 19 times during the previous 24 hours by firing machine guns, grenade launchers, and mortars.
It said Ukrainian government forces killed three separatist fighters and wounded two.
The separatists said Ukrainian government forces violated the cease-fire 27 times, using the same type of weapons.
Since April 2014, more than 10,300 people have been killed in fighting between Kyiv's forces and the separatists who control parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions with strong support from Moscow.
Fighting persists despite cease-fire deals reached as part of the September 2014 and February 2015 Minsk accords, and implementation of other measures set out in the deals has been slow. (w/Interfax and TASS)
This ends our live blogging for October 16. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Ukrainian fighter jet crashes during drills, killing two pilots:
A Ukrainian fighter jet has crashed during air-force exercises with NATO countries, killing two pilots, Ukraine's military says.
It was not yet clear why the aircraft ran into difficulties on October 16.
Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said the Su-27 was taking part in the 12-day-long Clear Sky 2018 war games that are being held in western Ukraine.
The United States and seven other NATO countries are taking part in the drills. (Reuters and AFP)
Sentsov may not survive after hunger strike, cousin says:
Ukrainian filmmaker Oleg Sentsov, who ended his nearly five-month hunger strike in a Russian prison earlier this month, may not survive because of damage to his health, his cousin says.
"Almost all his organs are severely affected," including liver, heart, and brain, Natalya Kaplan told journalists in Kyiv on October 16.
"The end of the hunger strike is a serious procedure, no one can say now whether Oleh will survive," she added.
Russian authorities have not commented publicly on Kaplan's statement.
Sentsov, a Crimean native who opposed Russia's 2014 takeover of the Ukrainian peninsula, is serving a 20-year prison term in Russia's far northern Yamalo-Nenets region.
He was convicted of terrorism in a trial that he, human rights groups, and Western governments contend was politically motivated.
The filmmaker started a hunger strike on May 14, demanding that Russia release 64 Ukrainians whom he considers political prisoners in Russia.
He ended his protest action on October 6, saying he had to do so to avoid being force-fed by the prison authorities.
At the end of his hunger strike, during which he was kept alive with nutrients administered via a drip, Sentsov had lost 20 kilograms.
Kaplan said her cousin was being treated in an intensive-care unit in the Yamalo-Nenets region.
"Unfortunately, his recent letters are quite pessimistic. He wrote a testament in which he asks not to abandon his children," she also said.
Sentsov has said he was against being transferred to an intensive-care unit. (AFP, 24 Kanal, and RBK-Ukraina)