Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item that RFE/RL's news desk filed overnight:
Biden Commends Poroshenko For Anticorruption Efforts
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has called Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and commended him for passing anticorruption legislation sought by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the White House said.
"The Vice President urged President Poroshenko to continue on this positive trajectory, to include successful implementation of the new legislation, and continued visible progress on anti-corruption reforms" backed by the United States and European Union, it said on February 18.
The IMF had threatened to halt delivery of Ukraine's $40 billion bailout package from the IMF and EU unless it cracked down on corruption.
Biden also applauded Poroshenko's efforts to replace Prosecutor-General Viktor Shokin, "which paves the way for needed reform of the prosecutorial service," the White House said.
Shokin was called out by name earlier this month by Economy Minister Aivaras Abromavicius, who announced his resignation and cited a "sharp escalation in efforts to block systemic and important reforms."
U.S. officials have long made clear their position that Shokin should resign to restore public confidence in Ukraine's justice system.
Based on reporting by AP and Reuters
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Thursday, February 18. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage.
Over 250 swine flu deaths in Ukraine since September: official
Kiev, Feb 18, 2016 (AFP) -- More than 250 people have died of swine flu in Ukraine since late September, a health official said Thursday, with the toll rising by almost 70 people in the past two weeks.
The war-scarred country has been swept by a general flu epidemic that has claimed 313 lives since September 28, when the first illness was recorded, a spokeswoman at Ukraine's flu and acute respiratory infections centre told AFP.
"Of that number, 253 have been confirmed as being caused by swine flu," she said on condition of anonymity.
It marked only the second known time that Ukraine has released swine flu toll figures, which an official at the health ministry told AFP at the start of the month were being treated as a state secret for undisclosed reasons.
Swine flu is the common name for the H1N1 virus, a respiratory disease that is contracted through contact between humans and pigs.
It is transmitted between people through inhalation, but not from eating pork-related products, according to health experts.
The figures released to AFP on Thursday only cover the government-run parts of Ukraine, with no official data available for southeastern regions controlled by pro-Russian rebel fighters since April 2014.
Health ministry officials questioned by AFP could not provide immediate information about swine flu cases in previous years.
At least 50 people have also died from the virus in neighbouring Russia, according to AFP calculations based on data from regional health authorities received on January 26.
A major H1N1 outbreak sparked a World Health Organization pandemic alert in June 2009, after the virus emerged from Mexico and the United States.
The epidemic killed around 18,500 people in 214 countries. The alert was lifted in August 2010.
Fascists And Evil Americans: Ukrainian Separatists Launch Magazine For Kids
By Tom Balmforth
A ruthless cookie-baking overlord named Fashiston dressed in the colors of the American flag. An evil woman named Gnuland handing out treats to masked men controlled by a pig-headed Ukrainian. And a kind, well-dressed man called Papa who has a striking resemblance to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Welcome to the fantasy world of Polite Little People, a new monthly kids magazine unveiled on February 17 by Russia-backed separatists in territory they control around Luhansk, in eastern Ukraine.
In comments carried by the separatist-controlled Luhansk Information Center and other local news websites, Sergei Kolesnikov, the chief editor of Polite Little People, said his title would help young people's "spiritual-patriotic education," will have a print run of 1,000, and will be sold in kiosks.
"We want our children to grow up to be…people without fear, without reproach, polite, open, defenders of their land, their loved-ones, honest and noble," Kolesnikov was quoted as saying.
The name of the magazine, Polite Little People, is taken from the moniker given to the thousands of Russian troops who illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in March 2014 with barely a gunshot fired. Statues to them have been erected in Russia and a new memorial is planned in Crimea.
Read the full story here.