Here's an update from our news desk:
Russia has reportedly started building a major military base in Belgorod Oblast near the Ukrainian border.
Reuters reports that on September 7 workmen were erecting a fence near the small town of Valuyki to mark out the perimeter.
Citing public documents, the news agency said the Defense Ministry is building the base on a 300-hectare site.
The facility is to house ammunition depots and barracks for 3,500 soldiers, as well as a recreation center with a skating rink and a swimming pool.
The ministry plans to use the base to train soldiers on artillery and army air defense, as well as in driving armored vehicles. The plan includes a site for studying the tactics of the U.S. military.
Kyiv and the West accuse Russia of sending soldiers and hardware to eastern Ukraine to support pro-Russian separatists fighting government forces. Moscow denies its military is in Ukraine.
(Reuters)
It seems to have been all quiet on the eastern front in recent days. We'll have the latest situational map for you in an hour or two:
This is indeed an interesting profile of the Pakistani-born owner of the Kyiv Post:
Russia's claim that bookish Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk is a hardened veteran of the first Chechen war has been ridiculed by many. Somewhat inevitably, this has resulted in the Internet being awash with memes poking fun at the allegations. RFE/RL's Current Time TV has compiled some of the best of them in this video:
Here's another news item on the latest diplomatic efforts to find a resolution to the Ukraine crisis:
Reports say Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko will meet with the French and German leaders in Paris in early October to discuss efforts to resolve the Ukraine conflict.
The meeting of Putin, Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Francois Hollande would be the first face-to-face talks by the four since they met in mid-February to forge a cease-fire agreement in Minsk.
The meeting was reported by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti, which cited France's Elysee Palace, the official residence of the French president.
The TASS news agency reported that the date of the meeting would be October 2.
The Elysee Palace said in a statement that the four leaders had spoken via phone on September 9 for about 90 minutes and that they agreed that a general cease-fire in eastern Ukraine between government troops and Russian-backed separatist fighters has generally held since September 1.
It added that they said everything must be done to continue the cease-fire's observance and to "allow the OSCE [Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe] special observer mission to have permanent, safe, and unrestricted access" to the conflict areas.
At least 7,900 people have been killed in the fighting in Ukraine since April 2014.
(Reuters, TASS, RIA Novosti)
The Ukrainian Security Service has put former Minister of Justice Olena Lukash on its wanted list. Lukash held the post during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych.
In May 2015 the Ukrainian General Prosecutor’s office opened an investigation on the suspicion that she embezzled more than 2 million hryvnas from the state budget. Allegedly, in conspiracy with others, she managed to arbitrarily transfer the money to the European Law Group company.
Lukash was put on the wanted list on July 28 and three months ago a Kyiv court had seized three arpatments she owned.