UN: Death Toll From Ukraine Conflict Tops 9,600
By RFE/RL
The United Nations says the death toll from the conflict in eastern Ukraine has reached more than 9,600 as the situation in the region deteriorates.
The UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR) said that by September 15 it had documented 9,640 conflict-related deaths and 22,431 injuries among Ukrainian armed forces, civilians, and members of the armed groups since the conflict began in mid-April 2014.
The report by the OHCHR, which covers the period from mid-May to mid-August, shows a 66 percent increase in the number of conflict-related civilian casualties in the east, compared to the previous three-month period.
In total, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine documented 188 civilian casualties in eastern Ukraine, including 28 dead and 160 injured, during the three months covered by the report.
“While the situation has improved since the cease-fire was restored on September 1, the situation along the contact line remains deeply unstable, as demonstrated by the incidents which took place last weekend. In fact, there is a real risk that a new outbreak of violence could happen at any time,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.
German, French Ministers Visit Eastern Ukraine
The German and French foreign ministers have made their first visit to eastern Ukraine since the start of the conflict between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in 2014.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier and French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on September 15 arrived in Kramatorsk, a city controlled by the Ukrainian government.
On their arrival to the city, Steinmeier and Ayrault were met by dozens of protesters holding placards saying, "We Say No To Special Status of Donbas" and "We Are Ukraine!"
On September 14, Ukrainian leaders agreed to observe a new cease-fire in eastern Ukraine that became effective on September 15 and will last at least a week.
"We came with a promise from Moscow that effective [September 15] there will be a truce that will last at least a week," Steinmeier said on September 14, a day after the leaders of the Russia-backed separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared a unilateral cease-fire.
The announcement of a new cease-fire came after Steinmeier and Ayrault met with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in Kyiv, where they urged the government to commit to the February 2015 Minsk agreement.
The Minsk peace plan envisages holding elections in separatist-held areas and partial autonomy for the country's eastern regions, known as the Donbas.
Based on reporting by AFP and rian.com.ua
Ukrainian Police Search Kharkiv Mayor's Residence
Ukrainian media reports say police are searching the residence of the mayor of the northeastern city of Kharkiv.
Prosecutor-General Yuriy Lutsenko was quoted as saying that a hotel in Kharkiv, where Hennadiy Kernes is currently residing, was being searched on September 15.
Lutsenko also said a house in the city belonging to the mother of opposition lawmaker Mykhaylo Dobkin was also being searched.
According to Lutsenko, the searches are part of an investigation into the alleged involvement of Kharkiv city officials into an illegal land privatization.
Kernes barely survived a shooting attack in April 2014, a time of growing instability in eastern Ukraine and a month after Moscow forcibly annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine.
Kernes initially gave his backing to the pro-Russia separatists in the east before later switching his loyalty to the Ukrainian government.
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, is just 20 kilometers from the Russian border.
Based on reporting by UNIAN and pravda.com.ua
Clinton Sets Meeting With Ukraine's Poroshenko
U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton will meet with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, her campaign said on September 14, in an effort to contrast her pro-Kyiv stance with her Republican opponent Donald Trump's public comments in support of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Clinton's meeting with Poroshenko, whose country has struggled economically and politically since Moscow forcibly annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and fueled a war with separatists in eastern Ukraine, will occur on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly meeting in New York next week.
Ukrainian officials said on September 14 that both Clinton and Trump had been invited to meet Poroshenko, but so far only Clinton has confirmed.
Aides said the former secretary of state will use the meeting with Poroshenko to burnish her foreign policy credentials and show her solidarity with Ukraine.