Here's another video from the Donbas, courtesy of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and Current Time TV:
Intense Fighting Prompts Evacuations In Eastern Ukraine
For days, fighting has intensified between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists. Civilians in villages near Luhansk and Donetsk in eastern Ukraine have been bearing the brunt of artillery and rocket battles, prompting evacuations.
Here's more on from our news desk on the lifting of some U.S. sanctions vis-a-vis the FSB:
U.S. Treasury Eases License Sanctions On Russian Security Agency
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Treasury Department has eased some financial sanctions imposed on Russia's lead security agency, a move one expert said appeared to be aimed at helping U.S. technology companies.
The directive, issued on February 2 by the department's Office of Foreign Assets Control, deals specifically with the Federal Security Service, or FSB.
It authorizes IT companies looking to import, distribute, or use certain information technology in Russia to pay up to $5,000 in a calendar year for licenses that might be issued by the FSB.
Previously, such license transactions were barred under a U.S. executive order issued in late December by former President Barack Obama in response to the conclusion by U.S. intelligence that Russia used computer hacking to interfere in the November 2016 U.S. presidential election.
Sam Cutler, a sanctions expert with the New York-based consultancy Horizon Client Access, told RFE/RL that the move appeared aimed mainly at helping U.S. companies.
The directive explicitly states that it "does not authorize the exportation, reexportation, or provision of goods or technology to or on behalf" of the FSB.
Still, the decision comes at a time when the FSB and other Russian security agencies are under close scrutiny for their alleged role in the U.S. election won by President Donald Trump.
During the campaign, Trump said he wants to improve relations with Moscow that were badly strained over the conflicts in Ukraine and Syria.
From the spokeswoman for the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry:
Ukrainian forces battled Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine, as a significant upsurge in fighting continued for a fifth day. (Current Time TV)
With events in Avdiyivka currently making the headlines, now is perhaps a good time to re-up this photo essay by RFE/RL's Amos Chapple from last year:
The Frontline Artist
On October 13, Australian artist Guido van Helten completed a large-scale mural in Avdiyivka, an eastern Ukrainian town where fighting between Russia-backed separatists and government troops still takes place 2 1/2 years after the start of a conflict that has killed more than 9,600 people. RFE/RL's Amos Chapple was granted exclusive access to an art project that was greeted with confusion by some locals -- and delight by others.
Read the entire photo story here.