From our Moscow correspondent Tom Balmforth:

Pro-Kremlin Youth Group Answers Ukrainian Students' Antipropaganda Appeal

Our Brussels correspondent, Rikard Jozwiak, has this on the UN deputy secretary-general's comments today suggesting the "ghost of the Cold War" has reemerged:

BRUSSELS -- UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson says Ukraine's war has damaged relations between Russia and the West to a point that the "ghost of the Cold War seems to be crawling out of the shadows."

Speaking on February 2 to the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee in Brussels, Eliasson said he hopes the lack of trust emerging between major world powers won't affect nuclear negotiations with Iran or the efforts to end the war in Syria.

Eliasson also said the engagement of the United Nations in Ukraine is not as strong as it should be.

Eliasson said the war in eastern Ukraine "shows the limitations in some situations in which the United Nations finds itself when we don't have a joint [UN] Security Council action and direction given."

He said the UN would mediate if the warring sides and major world powers want it.

In the meantime, he said the UN is focusing on human rights monitoring and humanitarian assistance.

Via Reuters, quotes from Aleksandr Zakharchenko, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, and Igor Plotnitsky, leader of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, at a news conference in Donetsk today.

Zakharchenko: "That the Minsk talks were wrecked was not our fault. We sent our real envoys there, Denis Vladimirovich Pushilin, [self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic representative], and Vladislav Deinego, [self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic representative] who had all the power to sign and to discuss any questions related to the withdrawal of heavy weapons, cease-fire, etc..."

Plotnitsky: "The derailment of the Minsk agreement lies with Kyiv, with [Ukrainian President Petro] Poroshenko. He does not want it, he is not interested. Most likely, all Minsk agreements are just cover under which Mr. Poroshenko hides his insecurity, misunderstanding, or even something bigger."

The concludes our live blogging for Monday, February 2. We'll close with this wrap-up from our newsroom:

Lavrov Claims Obama's Remarks Prove U.S. Backed Ukraine 'Coup'

Good morning. We'll start our live blog today with this item from RFE/RL's news desk:

The pro-government Aidar volunteer battalion has staged a protest in downtown Kyiv against a decision to disband the unit.

Some 300 people, many wearing military camouflage uniforms, gathered outside the Ukrainian Defense Ministry building on February 2 after attending a ceremony for members of the unit killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine.

The group blocked traffic in the area and some of them set tires on fire near the entrance to the ministry building.

The Defense Ministry's press service denied that the volunteer unit was being disbanded and said the "organizational changes" being made to the Aidar battalion did not involve any changes in personnel.

The protesters had left the scene by evening and traffic was again moving in the area.

The Ukrainian government has been trying to exert more control over volunteer battalions, some of which have been accused by international rights groups of committing crimes in the conflict areas of eastern Ukraine, including torture and executions.

(UNIAN, TASS, Interfax)

This U.S. senator seems to be in favor of sending lethal aid to Ukraine: