Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
More on the Obama-Tusk meeting later today:
Ahead of his meeting with Obama, Tusk said in an interview with The New York Times on March 8 that Europe was not yet prepared to step up sanctions against Moscow despite provocations by what he called the Russian "aggressor."
Latest:
The Ukrainian military said on March 9 that Russian-backed separatists violated a cease-fire several times overnight.
The headquarters of the Anti-Terrorist Operation, as Kyiv calls the military operation againt rebels who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk provinces, said that separatist forces fired on government positions 16 times between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m., mostly from mortars and grenade launchers.
It said most of the attacks were launched in the Donetsk province, where the rebels fired at Avdiivka and several other towns.
Fighting has eased substantially since the leaders of France and Germany brokered a deal on a cease-fire and steps toward peace in Minsk on February 12, rasing hopes for an end to the conflict that has killed more than 6,000 people since April.
But Ukraine has expressed concern the rebels may be using the cease-fire to regroup for possible new attacks.
Good morning. Main news so far today:
U.S. President Barack Obama is scheduled to sit down for talks with European Union President Donald Tusk in Washington on March 9.
The White House has said the two were to discuss the conflict in eastern Ukraine among other topics.
Violence in eastern Ukraine has dropped sharply in the past two weeks after a peace accord agreed in Minsk last month.
On March 8, a Ukrainian military spokesman said one Ukrainian service had been killed and three wounded in the past 24 hours in pro-Russian separatist eastern areas.
He added that while the Minsk agreements were broadly observed along the front lines, and the intensity of provocative attacks had dropped significantly, rebels continued to fire on government positions.
EU foreign ministers decided at talks in Riga on March 7 to give the fragile cease-fire a chance before debating whether to apply more sanctions or even to extend existing ones.
and
A U.S. naval officer says Russian military vessels and aircraft have been spotted in the Black Sea near an area where NATO plans to hold a military exercise.
Rear Admiral Brad Williamson the said the Russian navy acted in line with international rules.
"They have their plans, we have ours," Williamson said without disclosing further details.
He was speaking on March 8 to the Bulgarian BTA news agency aboard a U.S. cruiser docked in the Bulgarian Black Sea port of Varna.
The United States is due to take part in the exercise on March 9 alongside NATO partners Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey amid tensions between the West and Russia over the Ukraine conflict.