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A portrait of slain separatist leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko hangs outside the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theatre on September 2.
A portrait of slain separatist leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko hangs outside the Donetsk Opera and Ballet Theatre on September 2.

Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (Archive)

-- EDITOR'S NOTE: We have started a new Ukraine Live Blog as of September 3, 2018. You can find it here.

-- Tens of thousands of people gathered on September 2 in the separatist stronghold of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine to mourn a top rebel leader who was recently killed in a bomb attack.

-- Prominent Ukrainian historian Mykola Shityuk has been found dead in his home city of Mykolaiv, police said on September 2.​

-- Ukraine says it has imprisoned the man it accused of being recruited by Russia’s secret services to organize a murder plot against self-exiled Russian reporter and Kremlin critic Arkady Babchenko.

-- Ukraine and Russia are trading blame for the killing of a top separatist leader in eastern Ukraine.

-- Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the head of the head of the breakaway separatist entity known as the Donetsk People’s Republic, was killed in an explosion at a cafe in Donetsk on August 31.

-- The United States is ready to widen arms supplies to Ukraine to help build up the country's naval and air defense forces in the face of continuing Russian support for eastern separatists, the U.S. special envoy for Ukraine told The Guardian.

-- The spiritual head of the worldwide Orthodox Church in Istanbul has hosted Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill for talks on Ukraine's bid to split from the Russian church, a move strongly opposed by Moscow.

*Time stamps on the blog refer to local time in Ukraine

14:17 26.10.2017

13:57 26.10.2017

13:56 26.10.2017

13:54 26.10.2017

The video time-link seems a bit off, but you can just go back:

13:19 26.10.2017

As the fourth year of conflict in eastern Ukraine ground on, Christopher Miller journeyed along the front line in Donbas and saw fresh traumas and few signs of healing.

Ukraine's War Wounds

12:43 26.10.2017

12:19 26.10.2017

11:50 26.10.2017

11:05 26.10.2017

Yanukovych treason trial adjourned until December:

By RFE/RL

The treason trial of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych in absentia has been adjourned until December 4 after his new lawyer asked for more time to prepare.

In an October 26 ruling, Obolon district court judge Vladyslav Devyatko granted a request by Yanukovych's new state-appointed lawyer, Ihor Lyashenko, for additional time to get acquainted with the case.

It was not immediately clear why Yanukovych's lawyer was changed.

Lyashenko is Yanukovych's third state-appointed lawyer since two lawyers who had represented him withdrew from the case on July 6, saying that Yanukovych had informed them that he did not need their services anymore.

Yanukovych announced that day that he would not participate in the trial, charging that it is politically motivated.

Yanukovych abandoned his office in late February 2014 and fled to Russia in the face of protests triggered by his decision to scrap plans for a landmark deal with the European Union and improve trade ties with Moscow instead.

Dozens of people were killed when his government attempted to clamp down on the pro-European protests known as the Euromaidan.

Prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for Yanukovych, who is accused of treason, violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and abetting Russian aggression.

After he fled, Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and fomented opposition to the central government in eastern Ukraine, where the ensuing war between Kyiv's forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 10,000 people. (w/UNIAN, Ukrayinska Pravda)

10:19 26.10.2017

Following his release, Crimean Tatar leader Akhtem Chiygoz told RFE/RL on October 26:

"Our release [of fellow Crimean Tatar leader Ilmi Umerov and him] is a serious breakthrough by Ukraine and Turkey. For me it was an unexpected event, because I actually was ready to serve eight years in prison. It was a big surprise for me to learn that we were flying to Turkey. We, of course, are planning to be and we will be in our homeland, in Kyiv, today."

Chiygoz added that from his very first days in custody he was offered the chance to ask for his release and later after he was convicted he was offered the option of asking for clemency, which he refused.

Chiygoz vowed to continue his fight for the release of political prisoners in Russia and Russian-annexed Crimea.

"The conditions for the fight have changed, and I continued my fight while in prison. I am confident that now I will have more opportunities for that fight," he said.

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