That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Thursday, November 12. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our continuing coverage.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry expects the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to thoroughly investigate violations of the Minsk agreements, it said in a statement.
"We expect that the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission will urgently carry out a thorough investigation of violations of the Minsk agreement and asses them objectively.... We call on the international community to strengthen its influence on the Russian Federation to ensure strict adherence to a comprehensive ceasefire and unconditional implementation of the Minsk documents in full," the statement says.
According to the ministry, from November 1 through 11 separatists carried out more than 240 attacks along the dividing line. Sometimes they used 82-mm and 120-mm mortars that should have been withdrawn from the dividing line. In addition, the ministry claims, separatists attempted to storm Ukrainian positions close to Mayorske in the Donetsk region and Novozvanivka in the Luhansk region.
The EU's ambassador to Ukraine, Jan Tombinski, has said that Ukraine shouldn’t expect immediate effects of the free-trade zone with the EU.
"I am very optimistic about what would happen in two, three, four years. I insist that it won’t happen on January 1, 2016. We have to build a foundation, start the engine and the result will follow," he said at a business forum in Kyiv.
The free-trade zone between Ukraine and the EU will take effect on January 1, 2016.
The Verkhovna Rada may receive the European Commission opinion on Ukraine’s adoption of the so-called visa-free laws package in three to four days, said first deputy speaker Andriy Parubiy.
He noted that if the European Commission has any remarks, the Ukrainian parliament could make the necessary amendments.
According to Ukrainian deputies, the European Commission has to give its preliminary conclusions about Ukraine’s implementation of the action plan on visa liberalization on November 24.