U.S. NATO envoy talks about Russian troops in Ukraine:
The U.S. ambassador to NATO says Russian troops have been active in eastern Ukraine since the conflict began there in April, but he does not expect another large-scale Russian military intervention soon.
Douglas Lute said before a NATO defense ministers meeting in Brussels on February 4 that Russian specialists had a "command-and-control role" in eastern Ukraine and were operating sophisticated military equipment that would be difficult for untrained pro-Russian separatists to use.
He said Russian troops there include intelligence operatives and soldiers, both with and without military uniforms.
Lute said there was a "spike" in August 2014 "in direct Russian intervention in the form of Russian military units," including "Russian battalions as coherent formations deployed into Ukraine."
But he said, "We don't see another such direct intervention [by Russia] as imminent." (Reuters)
EU mulls more sanctions on Russia:
The European Union is discussing proposals for an expanded sanctions list over Russia's involvement in the war in eastern Ukraine.
Diplomats in Brussels told RFE/RL that EU ambassadors were near an agreement on February 4 to add 25 individuals and entities to the list.
Senior Russian officials were not expected to be named.
EU foreign ministers agreed on January 29 to expand the list and to extend until September an initial EU sanctions list targeting Russians and pro-Russia separatist leaders in Ukraine.
The expanded list is expected to be approved by EU foreign ministers on February 9.
In Washington, a senior official said Vice President Joe Biden would meet in Europe with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko later this week to discuss expanded sanctions against Russia and possible U.S. security assistance for Ukraine.
Biden visits Brussels on February 5 and Munich on February 6 before returning to Washington on February 8.
Ukrainian military forces are helping civilians evacuate the town of Debaltseve, which has been hit by heavy shelling amid ongoing clashes. Servicemen also brought in supplies of bread for residents who were unable or unwilling to leave. Officers said they were attempting to establish a safe corridor to facilitate travel in and out of the embattled town. (Produced by RFE/RL's Current Time TV program)
Washington says Ukrainian pilot's life "hangs in the balance":
U.S. State Department spokesman Jen Psaki says the life of Ukrainian air force officer Nadia Savchenko "hangs in the balance" after 54 days on a hunger strike in a Russian prison.
Psaki called Savchenko "a hostage to Russian authorities" and said Washington demanded her immediate release in accordance with the commitments Russia made under an agreement signed in Minsk in September.
A court in Moscow announced on February 4 that it would issue a ruling on February 10 about whether to grant a request by Russia’s Investigative Committee to extend Savchenko’s pretrial detention until May 13.
Savchenko began her hunger strike on December 13 to protest her incarceration by Russian authorities.
She was transferred to the hospital ward at Moscow's notorious Matrosskaya Tishina detention center on January 29 because of what medical personnel described as "abrupt weight loss."
Savchenko was captured by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in June and transferred to Russian custody in July.
Russian prosecutors have charged her with involvement in the deaths of two Russian journalists who were killed while covering the war in eastern Ukraine.
The OSCE's monitoring mission is calling for a truce:
This ends our live-blogging for February 4. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
By RFE/RL's News Desk:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is scheduled to hold talks with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on February 5.
The meeting in Kyiv comes amid reports that Washington may be close to reversing its policy not to arm Ukraine in its fight against pro-Russian rebels in the east of the country.
Washington has so far only provided "nonlethal" assistance to Ukraine, like night-vision goggles and radios.
U.S. President Barack Obama's pick to run the Pentagon said that he's inclined to support lethal weapons transfers to Kyiv.
Ashton Carter made the remarks on February 4 before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Poroshenko has said his military badly needs lethal aid to help repel the separatist attacks in the conflict that has killed more than 5,300 people.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
NATO defense ministers are due to expand the alliance's presence in Eastern Europe by setting up a network of small command centers that could rapidly reinforce the region in the event of any threat from Russia.
At their meeting in Brussels on February 5, ministers will also decide on the makeup of a new rapid reaction force and agree to expand a corps-level headquarters in western Poland as part of a plan to bolster NATO's eastern flank in response to Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
The U.S. ambassador to NATO, Douglas Lute, said NATO flags would fly over the Polish headquarters and the six command centers in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, and the three Baltic states, where the alliance has had little presence until now.
"These will be the first seven NATO flags in Eastern Europe," he told a news conference in Brussels on February 4.