Another story from our news desk which was posted overnight. Not strictly related to the crisis but bound to be of interest to Ukraine watchers:
Ukraine Detains Russian Allegedly Involved In Klebnikov Killing
Ukraine's main security agency says it has detained two Russian citizens wanted by Interpol, including one who allegedly was involved in the assassination of American journalist Paul Klebnikov.
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said in a statement on November 18 that it had detained a Chechen native who is a Russian citizen who "participated in a number of assassinations, in particular, the editor in chief of the Russian edition of Forbes and the deputy chairman of the apparatus of the government of the Chechen Republic in 2001-2003."
Shortly after being appointed the first editor of the Russian edition of Forbes magazine, Klebnikov was attacked by armed gunmen outside his office building in Moscow in July 2004.
Authorities said the killing was a response to Klebnikov's investigative work, which included books on Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky and Chechen rebel leader Khozh-Akhmed Nukhayev.
Prosecutors later accused Nukhayev of masterminding the crime and arrested three Chechen men for carrying out the hit.
All three men were eventually acquitted and authorities said they no longer believed Nukhayev had ordered the killing.
Gordana Knezevic, who is responsible for our Balkans Without Borders blog, has been writing about rising tensions between Kyiv and Belgrade. Here's a taster:
Belgrade's Balancing Act Between East And West Tested By Ukraine
Ukraine has long expressed unhappiness about the presence of Serbian volunteer fighters among the Russia-backed separatist forces it is battling in its eastern regions.
But Ukraine's ambassador to Serbia, Oleksandr Aleksandrovych, seriously ratcheted up tensions when he not only accused Russia of using its propaganda and security services to lure Serbians to fight against Kyiv, but hit close to Belgrade's heart by suggesting in an interview that Moscow was using Serbia to sow discord in the Balkans.
He rattled off a long list of alleged Russian destabilization efforts in his November 1 interview with the Balkan Investigative Reporting Network (BIRN): "Russia trains Serbian mercenaries to kill Ukrainians. Russia used Serbian extremists to make a coup d'etat in Montenegro. Russia encourages Serbian separatism in [the Serb-dominated Bosnian entity of] Republika Srpska to destabilize Bosnia and Herzegovina.... Russia uses the Serbian factor to destabilize Macedonia. Russia plays an active role in putting Serbian Kosovars against Albanian Kosovars. Russia sells its airplanes to Serbia to create tensions with Croatia."
The ambassador used those examples to highlight Kyiv's reasons to question Serbian intentions when it comes to their relationship.
"When you have Serbian politicians traveling to Crimea and praising Putin for his 'wise and strong policies', when you have Serbian mercenaries [fighting in separatist-held territories], when you have Serbia voting in the UN against Ukraine -- all of that naturally creates a negative image of Serbia in Ukraine," Aleksandrovych said.
Aside from Serbia's 2016 vote against a UN resolution calling for international monitoring of the human rights situation in Ukraine, Aleksandrovych's verbal volley referred to actions not officially endorsed by Belgrade: a trip to Crimea taken in early November by members of the opposition Radical Party, and, of course, the contentious Serbian volunteer fighters.
Read more here.
"Twenty years ago on this day, a historic event for independent Ukraine took place – Leonid Kadeniuk made his flight on board the U.S. space shuttle Columbia. Since then, Ukraine has successfully confirmed its position as a space power. Ukrainian-built launch vehicles are putting spacecraft and satellites into near-earth orbit from different countries around the world. Ukraine is an active participant in international space programs," Poroshenko wrote.
Some interesting tweets on relations between Kyiv and Warsaw: