Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
10 Belarusians suspected of fighting in Ukraine, minister says:
Belarusian authorities have launched investigations of about 10 Belarusian citizens suspected of fighting in eastern Ukraine, the country's foreign minister says.
Ihar Shunevich told reporters in Minsk on December 13 that the men under investigation were suspected of fighting as mercenaries on both sides of the Ukraine conflict.
Fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists in Ukraine's eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk has killed more than 9,700 people since April 2014.
The announcement comes a day after a group of alleged neo-Nazis went on trial in Belarus on charges including inciting ethnic hatred.
The defendants included Stanislau Hancharou, who fought against separatists in Ukraine's east.
There have been numerous reports that many volunteers and mercenaries from former Soviet republics are fighting on both sides of the conflict. (BelTA, Interfax)
Savchenko rejects criticism for meeting with separatists:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Ukrainian lawmaker Nadia Savchenko says she will continue her efforts to free Ukrainians held captive by Russia-backed separatists despite any fallout from her recent meeting with separatist leaders in Minsk, Belarus.
Savchenko acknowledged on December 12 that she had met with separatists last week for consultations on prisoner swaps. The move triggered rebukes from her Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) party for what it called "negotiating with terrorists."
Speaking to RFE/RL on December 13, Savchenko, a military aviator who was jailed in Russia in 2014 and became a national symbol of resilience before her release in May, rejected reports that her meeting with separatist leaders Aleksandr Zakharchenko and Igor Plotnitsky were secret. She said there had been months of preparations.
She also rejected critics' claims that her talks with the separatist leaders was a step toward legalizing "terrorists."
"Nobody can legalize what is illegal," Savchenko said.
Savchenko also said there were no grounds to expel her from the parliamentary National Defense Committee, as urged by some lawmakers, and that what Ukraine needed now is peace.
According to Savchenko, two Russian representatives responsible for humanitarian issues were present at the talks and that a chief goal was to outline the number of people held by both sides.
She said that a separatist claim that some 700 separatist fighters are in Kyiv's custody was far from the truth.
Savchenko described the talks as positive and said that they will continue, but that no specific date had been set for the next round.