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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

22:01 14.2.2018

22:23 14.2.2018

22:24 14.2.2018

22:26 14.2.2018

This ends our live blogging for February 14. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.

08:23 15.2.2018

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14:43 15.2.2018

Four Ukrainian Marines Found Dead; Two Fellow Servicemen Arrested

By RFE/RL

Four Ukrainian marines have been found shot dead in their living quarters in eastern Ukraine and two fellow servicemen have been detained on suspicion of killing them, authorities said.

Prosecutor-General's Office spokeswoman Larysa Sarhan wrote on Facebook on February 15 that an investigation has been opened into the premeditated murder of the four men.

According to Sarhan, a preliminary investigation indicated the killings were the result of bullying in the military unit.

She did not specify when exactly the two suspects were apprehended but said that they had confessed.

The headquarters for Ukraine's operations in the east, where Kyiv's forces are fighting Russia-backed separatists who hold parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, said that the bodies of the marines were found in their temporary living quarters.

Neither Sarhan nor the headquarters said when the bodies were found.

The conflict in eastern Ukraine has killed more than 10,300 combatants and civilians since April 2014, when it broke out after Russia fomented unrest in the area following the ouster of Moscow-friendly Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.

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