From the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine:
Good piece by Tim Judah:
Crimean Tatar leaders Mustafa Dzhemilev and Refat Chubarov have met with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
According to Chubarov’s Facebook post, the meeting took place aboard a government plane during a flight between Konya and Ankara. There are no details about the purpose of the meeting.
Earlier, Crimean news agency QHA reported that Crimean Tatar leaders also met with the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The article says they discussed Ukraine-Turkey relations, as well as the situation of Crimean Tatars in annexed Crimea.
Ukrainska Pravda claims that the EU has decided to lift the visa regime with Ukraine. The announcement on whether or not Ukraine has fulfilled all the necessary requirements is to come today, but Ukrainska Pravda claims to have obtained parts of the document.
“Considering the relations between Ukraine and the EU, the European Commission will submit [to the EU Council] a legislative proposal to change the regulation 539/2001,” says Ukrainska Pravda, quoting the document.
Council Regulation 539/2001 lists countries whose citizens require and do not require visas to enter the European Union.
From our news desk on the debt:
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says his country won't repay a $3 billion debt owed to Russia by this weekend.
Yatsenyuk announced at a televised government session December 18 a "moratorium" on any debt repayments to Russia. He did not indicate when Ukraine would be ready to repay the debt.
That effectively means that Ukraine is defaulting on the debt. Moscow has previously said it will take Ukraine to court if it failed to pay on time.
Relations between the two neighbors soured after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in March 2014 and threw its backing behind separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian leaders have accused Moscow of sending troops and weapons to the east, a claim the Kremlin has denied.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
More on the debt:
The Eurobond matures on December 20, but Ukraine has a 10-day grace period before it will be considered officially to be in default.
Yatseniuk also said Ukraine would cancel payments on $507 million of Ukrainian commercial debt held by Russian banks.