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Ten-year-old Sasha stands in a bomb shelter in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
Ten-year-old Sasha stands in a bomb shelter in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.

Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (Archive)

Follow all of the latest developments as they happen.

Final News Summary For September 29

-- We have started a new Ukraine Live Blog. Find it here.

-- Ukraine is marking 75 years since the World War II massacre of 33,771 Jews on the outskirts of Nazi-occupied Kyiv.

-- German Chancellor Angela Merkel has urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to stabilize a fragile cease-fire in Ukraine and do all he could to improve what Merkel called a "catastrophic humanitarian situation" in Syria.

-- Russia's Supreme Court has upheld a decision by a Moscow-backed Crimean court to ban the Mejlis, the self-governing body of Crimean Tatars in the occupied Ukrainian territory.

* NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kyiv (GMT/UTC +3)

14:48 4.5.2016

14:11 4.5.2016

Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone, courtesy of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE)

14:09 4.5.2016

14:04 4.5.2016

12:41 4.5.2016

12:40 4.5.2016

12:39 4.5.2016

11:54 4.5.2016

Here's some details from RFE/RL's report on Bellingcat's latest findings with respect to Malaysia Airlines Flight 17:

Bellingcat Report Says Russian Buk 322 Shot Down Flight MH17

Bellingcat investigators say they have identified some unique characteristics of the Russian Buk M1 self-propelled missile launcher (pictured), which was photographed in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine at the same time as when Flight MH17 was shot down.
Bellingcat investigators say they have identified some unique characteristics of the Russian Buk M1 self-propelled missile launcher (pictured), which was photographed in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine at the same time as when Flight MH17 was shot down.

A team of open-source researchers investigating the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 says it has positively identified a Russian Buk missile launcher that shot down the plane.

A report released late on May 3 by Bellingcat, an independent team of British investigators, says flight MH17 was shot down on July 17, 2014 by Buk self-propelled missile launcher 322 from Russia's 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade of Kursk.

Using photographs posted online since 2010 by members of Russia's 53rd Antiaircraft Missile Brigade, Bellingcat experts matched seven unique characteristics of the Russian Buk M1 self-propelled missile launcher that was photographed in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine on July 17, 2014.

Those features included partially obscured identification numbers, the font and exact spacing of the digits, wheel types, a dent in the left side panel, the arrangement of cable connections to the missile launcher, white marks on both sides of the vehicle, and the shape and size of oil and soot deposits near the exhaust.

It says Buk 322 had all seven features and was the only possible candidate for identification that had even one feature in common with the Russian Buk photographed in eastern Ukraine just before the plane was shot down.

A Bellingcat report in February linked higher-ups in Russia's military chain of command to the missile attack that killed all 298 people on board the civilian passenger plane.

Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine responded to the latest Bellingcat report by denying the presence of any Russian air defense crews in territory under their control at any time, including the time the Malaysian jetliner was shot down.

The Kremlin also denies that it has sent any Russian military units into eastern Ukraine to support the separatists.

It says all Russian soldiers who have been killed or captured by Ukrainian government forces there have been volunteers.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says Kyiv has evidence of Russian troops and equipment crossing into eastern Ukraine despite a shaky cease-fire deal brokered in Minsk.

Kyiv also says Russian now has more than 30,000 soldiers deployed in eastern Ukraine to support pro-Russia separatists there.

With reporting by BBC and Interfax
09:07 4.5.2016

Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with a few tweets that caught our eye overnight:

21:00 3.5.2016

That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Tuesday, May 3. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage.

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