RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service has sent us this video from Kharkiv:
Security forces blocked journalists from entering the building where Kharkiv Mayor Hennadiy Kernes took the oath of office for a second term on November 18. The controversial mayor survived an assassination attempt last year and is facing charges connected to unrest at the Maidan protests in Kyiv.
Poroshenko calls for eliminating Russian text on documents:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has asked the government to replace Russian-language text with English text in Ukrainian identification documents.
Poroshenko said on November 19 that the request came after a petition from Ukrainians demanding the change to documents that are known as internal passports.
Most internal passports in Ukraine currently carry text in Ukrainian and Russian.
A resident of the western city of Lviv, Svyatoslav Litynskiy, filed a lawsuit in early 2015 against a local passport agency, demanding an internal passport with text only in Ukrainian.
He won the case in May and received such a passport in August.
Ukrainian-Russian relations have hit historic lows since Moscow annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and began supporting pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. (UNIAN, TASS)
Kyiv diplomat warns West against easing pressure on Russia:
A senior Ukrainian diplomat says the West should not ease pressure on Russia over its role in Ukraine's conflict -- even if antiterrorism cooperation begins.
Dmytro Kuleba, ambassador at large in Ukraine's Foreign Ministry, told Reuters on November 19 that "rapprochement between the West and Russia to fight terrorism is possible, but not at the expense of Ukraine."
Kuleba said that "compromises with Russia on Ukraine" will mean "the acceptance of the illegal use of force in Europe" and "have devastating consequences for pan-European security and international law."
Western countries imposed sanctions on Russia in 2014 over its annexation of Crimea and support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
But there have been signs of a diplomatic thaw since terrorist attacks in Paris on November 13.
Next week, French President Francois Hollande plans the first bilateral visit to Moscow by a European Union leader in six months. (Reuters, AP)