Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
LATEST: A court in Russian-controlled Crimea has ordered two of the Ukrainian sailors who were captured by Russian coast guards near the Kerch Strait to be held in custody for two months, the Crimean Desk of our Ukrainian Service reports.
Russian court orders captured Ukrainian crewmen held in custody for two months:
By the Crimean Desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
SIMEROPOL, Ukraine -- A Russian court has ordered two of the Ukrainian sailors who were captured by Russian coast-guard forces during a confrontation at sea off Crimea to be held in custody for two months.
The November 27 rulings by the court in Simferopol, the capital of Russian-controlled Crimea, signaled the Kremlin's defiance of calls by Kyiv and the West to release two dozen crew members who were seized along with three Ukrainian Navy vessels two days earlier.
Raising the stakes after tensions spiked when Russian coast-guard craft rammed and fired on the Ukrainian boats, the court was holding custody hearings for 12 of the crewmembers. A Russian official said nine others would face hearings on November 28.
So far, two have been ordered held in pretrial detention -- which usually means custody behind bars in a jail -- for two months.
Under Russian law, those terms can be extended by courts at the request of prosecutors, and it was not immediately clear when the sailors, who Russia accuses of violating the border, might face trial. (w/Current Time TV and TASS)