Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (click to enlarge):
Erik Prince being the founder and former CEO of the Blackwater security company
Exiled Russian journalist Babchenko says left Ukraine "temporarily":
By RFE/RL's Russian Service
A dissident Russian journalist who once promised facetiously to return to his homeland in a U.S.-made Abrams tank, says he "temporarily" left Ukraine, where he has lived in self-imposed exile since fall 2017.
Arkady Babchenko told RFE/RL via Skype on November 4 that he had left Ukraine for an unidentified country due to anxiety over his safety after the April election of Volodymyr Zelenskiy as president of Ukraine. He did not say where he was speaking from.
Babchenko criticized Zelenskiy's politics, saying that he felt that "Ukraine's reputation on the international arena isn't what it was before" the new president took power.
"Russia's return to PACE, [Ukraine's] refusal from activities in the Kerch Strait [near Russia-annexed Crimea], the troop withdrawal, Ukraine's retreat back inside its territory, appointment of absolutely insane and strange people to the key state posts...[Ukraine's] general trend toward capitulation...all that is enough for me [to leave]," Babchenko said, adding that his departure was only "a temporary evacuation."
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) on May 29 staged an assassination of Babchenko as part of a sting operation to catch people involved in an alleged Russian plot to kill him.
The SBU never presented any direct evidence linking Moscow to the alleged plot.
On August 30, 2018, a court in Kyiv sentenced Ukrainian national Borys Herman to 4 1/2 years in prison as the man whom Russian secret services allegedly recruited to organize the assassination plot.
Then-SBU head Vasyl Hrytsak said that Herman had pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with the authorities.
Herman is alleged to have promised $40,000 to a would-be assassin for the killing of Babchenko.
The alleged would-be killer, a former Ukrainian monk-turned-army veteran named Oleksiy Tsymbalyuk, said he went to the SBU after Herman approached him.
Tsymbalyuk said he worked with the agency to foil the plot.
The SBU operation of faking Babchenko's death was heavily criticized by media watchdogs, journalists, and others who said it undermined the credibility of journalists and Ukrainian officials.
Media groups demand probe into ex-official who threatened release of journalists' data:
By RFE/RL
A coalition of Ukrainian media-development and press-freedom groups as well as civic activists have called on the government and law enforcement authorities to prosecute a former high-level official for threatening journalists and to safeguard their profession.
The statement, published on November 4, alleges that Andriy Portnov, a former lawmaker and deputy head of Ex-President Viktor Yanukovych's administration, had threatened the editorial staff of investigative journalism group Skhemy (Schemes), a joint project run by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service and UA:Pershy television.
"We urge the Ukrainian authorities and law enforcement agencies to hold Andriy Portnov accountable and ensure the safety of journalists and employees who are under pressure as a result of their professional journalistic activity," the statement said.
The coalition, called Mediarukh (Media Movement), asserts that Portnov committed a number of crimes in relation to Skhemy staff.
Specifically, Portnov on November 1 published on his Telegram channel personal data of a driver working for the Skhemy production team because the program was working on an investigation into him and his relations with officials currently in the Ukrainian government.
Portnov also threatened to release similar data relating to other Skhemy journalists and staffers, as well as threatening physical harm toward members of the group.
RFE/RL President Jamie Fly subsequently condemned Portnov's actions.
"RFE/RL strongly condemns the recent harassment of journalists and staff of the program Skhemy (Schemes) of our Ukrainian Service," Fly said in a statement on November 2. "It is unacceptable and, it also seems, unlawful for anyone in Ukraine to disclose personal information, threaten physical harm, or otherwise put pressure on journalists because of their professional activities."
Fly also urged the Ukrainian authorities to "hold accountable those who commit actions that undermine the public's belief in Ukraine's commitment to freedom of expression."
Portnov fled to Russia along with Yanukovych and other high-level officials in the wake of the 2014 pro-democracy Euromaidan movement.
He returned after this year's presidential election.
Among the groups and activists who signed the statement are the Institute of Mass Information, Detektor Media, Internews-Ukraine, the Regional Press Development Institute, the Pylyp Orlyk Institute of Democracy, Natalia Lyhachova, and Svitlana Ostapa.