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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

17:55 13.11.2017

17:58 13.11.2017

read more: Russian Charges Ukrainian Journalist With Espionage

20:52 13.11.2017

20:56 13.11.2017

20:58 13.11.2017

21:03 13.11.2017

21:04 13.11.2017

21:48 13.11.2017

This ends our live blogging for November 13. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.

09:07 14.11.2017

Good morning. We'll get the live blog rolling to day with a few of the things that caught our eye overnight:

09:31 14.11.2017

Here's a new item from RFE/RL's news desk:

HRW Denounces 'Intensifying Persecution' Of Crimean Tatars' In Crimea

According to HRW, Russian authorities and their proxies have subjected members of the Crimean Tatar community o harassment and intimidation. (file photo)
According to HRW, Russian authorities and their proxies have subjected members of the Crimean Tatar community o harassment and intimidation. (file photo)

Human Rights Watch (HRW) says authorities in Russian-occupied Crimea have "intensified persecution" of Crimean Tatars for their opposition to Russia's annexation of the Ukrainian region in 2014.

In a report released on November 14, the New York-based rights group said that "Russian authorities and their proxies have subjected members of the Crimean Tatar community and their supporters, including journalists, bloggers, activists, and others to harassment, intimidation, threats, intrusive and unlawful searches of their homes, physical attacks, and enforced disappearances."

The report said that complaints lodged with Russian-imposed authorities are "not investigated effectively."

It added that Crimean Tatar media and organizations that criticized Russia’s actions in Crimea have been banned -- including the Mejlis, the Crimean Tatar self-governing body.

"Russian authorities in Crimea have relentlessly persecuted Crimean Tatars for their vocal opposition to Russia's occupation since it began in 2014," said Hugh Williamson, HRW's Europe and Central Asia director. "They have portrayed politically active Crimean Tatars as extremists and terrorists, forced many into exile, and ensured that those who choose to stay never feel safe to speak their mind."

Rights groups and Western governments have denounced what they called a persistent campaign of oppression targeting members of the indigenous Turkic-speaking Crimean Tatar minority and other citizens who opposed Moscow's annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine in March 2014

The majority of Crimean Tatars opposed the Russian takeover of their historic homeland.

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