Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE)
Here's a new item from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
Poroshenko Says Polish Bill On Nazi-Era Crimes 'Unacceptable'
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko says he is "deeply concerned" by a Polish bill that accuses some Ukrainians of collaborating with Nazi Germany, calling it "categorically unacceptable."
Poroshenko made his comments on Facebook on February 1, hours after the Polish Senate passed legislative amendments regulating speech related to the Holocaust and to other Nazi-era crimes.
The United States, Israel, and others have sharply criticized the bill, which subjects anyone who accuses Poland or its people of complicity in Nazi crimes to criminal prosecution and a possible prison sentence of up to three years.
In addition to Nazi and "communist" crimes, the bill also refers to "crimes committed by Ukrainian nationalists and members of Ukrainian units collaborating with the Third Reich."
It defines those alleged crimes as "acts committed by Ukrainian nationalists between 1925 and 1950 which involved the use of violence, terror or other human rights violations against individuals or population groups."
"Participating in the extermination of the Jewish population and genocide of citizens of the Second Polish Republic in Volhynia and Eastern Malopolska...also constitute a crime committed by Ukrainian nationalists and members of Ukrainian units collaborating with the Third Reich," it says -- a reference that includes a period between the two World Wars when parts of what is now western Ukraine were in Poland.
The Polish bill is aimed at "protecting the reputation" of Poland and its people, according to the language in the legislation. But Poroshenko suggested that it unfairly tarnishes the reputation of Ukraine and Ukrainians, saying that the "judgments" it contains are "absolutely biased and categorically unacceptable."
"Historical truth requires frank conversation and dialogue, not prohibitions," Poroshenko wrote. He said the bill "does not correspond to the declared principles of the strategic partnership between Ukraine and Poland.
He said that Ukraine and Poland must remember what he called "our common victories in the fight against totalitarian regimes" -- apparently a reference to both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. "No political decision can replace the historical truth."
Many officials and citizens in Poland, a former Warsaw Pact member, and Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, share deeply negative feelings about Nazi Germany and about Moscow's Soviet-era dominance of Eastern Europe. But relations between the neighboring countries themselves have also been strained by violence and disputes over the centuries.
To become law, the Polish bill must be signed by President Andrzej Duda, who has supported it.
With reporting by AP, AFP, Reuters, dpa, and the Times of Israel, and Unian.
Here's a news item from RFE/RL's Kyiv correspondent Christopher Miller:
Citing Threats, Ukrainian News Editor Flees To Austria
KYIV -- The editor in chief of a Ukrainian news site derided by critics as overly friendly toward Russia says he has fled the country and appealed for political asylum in Austria, citing threats of physical violence and "unprecedented pressure from the authorities," including President Petro Poroshenko.
Ihor Huzhva announced the move in a statement on the Strana.ua website, which accused Ukrainian law enforcement of ignoring his requests for criminal probes into threats against him and other Strana.ua journalists.
"The last death-threat message came to me literally this past weekend," Huzhva wrote in the January 31 message.
Huzhva, a longtime player in Ukraine's murky media sector who has batted back accusations in the past that he takes orders from Moscow, also cited what he said were at least five criminal cases pending against him.
RFE/RL could not independently corroborate all of those cases, and Ukrainian authorities including the president's office did not immediately comment.
Huzhva is a former editor in chief of the Ukrainian newspaper Vesti, which is owned by a former tax minister who fled to Russia around the same time that President Viktor Yanukovych fled there in the face of Euromaidan street protests in 2014.
Huzhva is thought to have close ties to Ukraine's Opposition Bloc party, an alliance of parties that rejected the Euromaidan's pro-EU message.
Huzhva has blamed such perceptions for a raid on Strana.ua's offices in Kyiv in June 2017 and his arrest for allegedly demanding a $10,000 bribe in exchange for withholding compromising material on a politician -- an accusation he rejects.
'Falsifying' A Case
He accused officials of "falsifying" a case after agents from the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said they confiscated a flash drive of Huzhva's with evidence proving their case. The SBU also searched the homes of two Strana.ua journalists.
Huzhva told RFE/RL after his arrest that Ukrainian authorities "want to close [Strana.ua] and put me in jail."
The Ukrainian president's office did not immediately respond to telephone or written queries about Huzhva's situation on January 31.
Huzhva's case was highlighted in a September appeal by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ)* to Poroshenko to reaffirm his commitment to ensuring journalists' safety.
The CPJ’s appeal came after what it said were at least seven separate incidents in a span of two months in which the SBU "targeted newsrooms and journalists on accusations that appear politically motivated, and in retaliation for critical reporting."
Since the ongoing conflict between the central government and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine broke out in 2014, some journalists critical of authorities or accused of being pro-Russian have faced legal troubles, threats, and attacks.
In one case, nationalist hackers published the names, telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, affiliations, and travel dates of thousands of Ukrainian and foreign journalists on a website tied to officials at the Interior Ministry.
In its 2017 World Press Freedom Index, Reporters Without Borders (RSF) ranked Ukraine 102nd out of 180 countries -- up slightly from 2016.
Freedom House called Ukraine "partly free" in its 2017 Freedom of the Press report.
Huzhva said in his statement that he had left Ukraine "completely legally" after a court order related to the bribery case that had prevented him from leaving the country expired on January 6. "After that, I freely left the country," he added.
Huzhva said Strana.ua will continue to operate and he will carry out his editorial duties from abroad.