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

Ukraine's Avdiyivka Coke Plant Roars Past Prewar Production

After being shelled repeatedly and pushed to the brink of shutdown, the Avdiyivka Coke and Chemical Plant in eastern Ukraine's war-torn Donetsk region is once again running at full capacity. The factory is one of the largest coke producing plants in Europe and plays a vital role in fueling Ukrainian industry. It now produces purified coal fuel at a rate not seen since early 2014, before the start of the conflict with Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service photographer Andriy Dubchak visited the Avdiyivka Coke and Chemical Plant​ and found the factory is expanding its facilities. (CLICK ON IMAGE TO OPEN GALLERY)

• Andriy Dubchak
• Anastasia Magazova
• Kateryna Oliynyk
• Stuart Greer

After being shelled repeatedly and pushed to the brink of shutdown, the Avdiyivka Coke and Chemical Plant in eastern Ukraine's war-torn Donetsk region is once again running at full capacity.

Hot off the presses from RFE/RL's Kyiv correspondent Christopher Miller:

Manafort Worked With Russian-Ukrainian On Peace Plan Before -- And Long After -- Criminal Charges

KYIV -- Konstantin Kilimnik, the alleged Russian intelligence operative who helped run Paul Manafort's operations in Kyiv for roughly a decade, boasted of the duo's closeness to RFE/RL in a 2017 interview. "The only guy who Manafort can conceivably talk to in Ukraine is basically me," he said.

Kilimnik added that, while Manafort was working as Donald Trump's campaign chairman in 2016, he was also "briefing [Manafort] on Ukraine."

On January 15, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office suggested in a court filing that the two men spoke a lot, before and long after Manafort was criminally charged, and specifically about an initiative to bring peace to Ukraine that was likely very favorable to the Kremlin.

If confirmed, that would indicate that the pair were doing so while Manafort was working for Trump's campaign and Russia was allegedly interfering in the 2016 election to help his candidate win.

Read more here.

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.