A report from today:
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)