Poroshenko, Tillerson Discuss UN Peacekeeping Plan
By RFE/RL
The Ukrainian presidential office says President Petro Poroshenko and U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have discussed the possibility of sending UN peacekeepers to eastern Ukraine.
A November 4 statement said Poroshenko and Tillerson held a telephone conversation during which they “coordinated further steps for the deployment of an international UN mission” in the separatist-held parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, including the border between those areas and Russia, which Kyiv says is used to ship weapons and military personnel in from Russia.
Fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 10,000 people in Ukraine’s east since April 2014.
Several cease-fire deals announced as part of the Minsk accords, signed in September 2014 and February 2015 to put an end to the conflict, have failed to hold.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in September proposed deploying UN peacekeepers on the contact line separating the sides of the conflict. The plan swiftly drew criticism from both Kyiv and the West, in part because of concerns that deployment only along the front line would cement Russian control over separatist-held territory.
According to Poroshenko’s office, Tillerson told Poroshenko that Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Wess Mitchell plans to visit Ukraine in November.
Former Trump Campaign Chief Pledges $12 Million To End House Arrest
Paul Manafort, U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign manager, has offered to post $12 million in real estate and life-insurance assets in an effort to end the house arrest order against him, court documents show.
In the November 4 filing, Manafort also offered to limit his travel to New York, Washington, D.C., and Florida before a trial on charges including conspiracy to launder money, conspiracy against the United States, and failing to register as foreign agents of Ukraine's former pro-Russia government.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson on November 2 turned down a request by Manafort to release him from home confinement. Rick Gates, an associate of Manafort’s, has also been charged and ordered held under house arrest.
Both pleaded not guilty and deny any wrongdoing.
Bond was preliminarily set at $10 million for Manafort and $5 million for Gates after they surrendered to authorities on October 30. Another bond hearing is set for November 6.
Jackson has suggested a potential trial date of May 7, 2018.
Manafort and Gates are charged with conspiring to defraud the United States in more than a decade of dealings with political forces in Ukraine.
The charges are part of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's probe into alleged Russian efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election in Trump's favor and into potential collusion by theTrump campaign.
Manafort faces 12 to 15 years in prison if convicted, while Gates faces 10 to 12 years, although prosecutors said other charges could still be filed.
Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
That concludes our Ukraine Live Blog for today. Please join us again tomorrow for more news.