By RFE/RL
NATO says that Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine are expanding their territory by pushing Ukrainian troops westward.
U.S. General Philip Breedlove, NATO's top military commander, said in Brussels on January 22 that the situation along the "line of contact" in eastern Ukraine "is not good" and he is "concerned" that rebels have gained ground on Ukrainian forces.
He refused to give exact numbers or types of Russian armament but said NATO is "beginning to see the signatures" of air-defense systems and electronic hardware systems that have "accompanied past Russian troop movements into Ukraine."
Breedlove added that NATO is "not a threat to Russia" and only seeks to reestablish European norms such as "respect [for] international borders" and the "sovereignty of nations."
He said the alliance will also seek to reestablish communication with Russian General Valery Gerasimov, chief of the Russian armed forces general staff.
AP video of the aftermath of the Ukraine bus shelling.
From our news desk:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko placed flowers to the memorial monument to a Belarusian citizen, Mikhail Zhyzneuski, who died a year ago on Maidan, on January 22.
Poroshenko also laid flowers to the memorial wall to the victims of Maidan near the Parliamentary library in Kyiv.
Talking of the first Maidan victims, this was our piece from a year ago.