President Petro Poroshenko took a test flight on an Su-27 fighter jet while on a visit to Zaporizhzhya.
The two Su-27 jet fighters Poroshenko saw today were modernized in accordance to NATO standards.
Russia appeals for new MH17 probe:
Russia has appealed to the International Civil Aviation Organization to open a new probe into last year's downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over eastern Ukraine.
Oleg Storchevoi, deputy chief of the Russian Aviation Agency, made the comment during a press conference in Moscow on October 14.
The Boeing 777 crashed on July 17, 2014, in eastern Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.
The Dutch Safety Board said in its final report released on October 13 that the jet was destroyed by a Russian-made surface-to-air missile. Two-thirds of the victims in the crash were Dutch.
The probe did not say who had fired the missile, but it identified an area of 320 square kilometers from where it said the launch must have taken place. At the time of the attack, that land was mostly under the control of the pro-Russia rebels.
Storchevoi hinted that Russia believes that some of the evidence has been faked.
Speaking in Donetsk, rebel leader Aleksandr Zakharchenko denied any involvement in the crash. (TASS, Interfax, AP)
Member of the European Parliament Rebecca Harms tells RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that the European Union has not yet considered lifting sanctions imposed on Russia after it annexed Crimea.
"Lifting sanctions imposed for Crimea’s annexation is out of the question. When people talk about softening or changing sanctions, it refers to economic sanctions imposed due to the war in Donbas. Crimea is a separate issue," Harms said.
She also added that, in her opinion, economic sanctions imposed on Russia over its actions in Donbas could not be lifted until the Minsk agreement was fulfilled.