This ends our live blogging for December 22. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
The big news from overnight:
Ukraine, Separatists Agree To Cease-Fire During Holidays
Ukraine reached an agreement with Russia-backed separatists for a truce during the Christmas and New Year holidays that went into effect at midnight on December 22.
A spokeswoman for the Ukrainian peace negotiator said the new deal was forged in the Belarusian capital Minsk during the latest round of peace talks.
"We have an agreement about a complete and unconditional ceasefire that will begin at 00.00 hours on the night of December 22-23," said Darka Olifer, who is press secretary for Ukrainian negotiator and former Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma, writing on her Facebook page.
"This initiative is especially needed so that civilians who live in [the separatist east] can spend Christmas and the New Year holidays in peace."
"We express our expectations and hope that the people of eastern Ukraine can enjoy their New Year and Christmas days in peace and keep these conditions in the future," said Martin Sajdik, the head envoy from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Most Orthodox Christians in Ukraine and Russia celebrate Christmas on January 7.
A representative from the partially separatist-held Luhansk province said a new agreement was needed because of repeated violations of an existing truce that was loosely enforced.
Sajdik said the two sides had also agreed to limit their troop and tank movements along the 500-kilometer front.
"We have agreed that the sides will refrain from conducting any military maneuvers, and also reduce to a minimum any movement of forces," he said.
The warring sides had agreed to a September 1 truce that significantly reduced exchanges of artillery and missile fire along a 30-kilometer buffer zone separating the conflict area from the rest of Ukraine.
But a new upsurge in violence last week had threatened to unravel the September deal.
Kyiv on December 22 reported 30 truce breaches by the insurgents along the front line.
The United Nations says more than 9,000 people -- most of them civilians -- have died since the separatist revolt began in April 2014.
Russia issues Crimea banknote in move likely to irk Ukraine, Reuters reports:
Russia on Wednesday issued a new banknote dedicated to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula it annexed last year, in a move likely to anger Kiev which says it wants the territory back.
Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in March last year in a military operation denounced by the West which imposed retaliatory sanctions on Moscow that remain in place.
The new banknote, worth 100 rubles ($1.41), depicts a memorial to sunken ships in the port of Sevastopol, where Russia keeps its Black Sea Fleet, and the Swallow's Nest, a cliff top castle near Yalta.
The yellow-colored note also features a watermark of Empress Catherine the Great, who extended the borders of the Russian Empire in the eighteenth century to absorb Crimea.
Russia's central bank said in a statement it would issue 20 million of the new notes. It has previously minted a 10 rouble coin to celebrate Russia's control of Crimea.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
As mentioned earlier, Russia has issued a Crimea banknote:
Russia has issued a new banknote dedicated to Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed illegally by the Kremlin last year.
The new banknote, worth 100 rubles ($1.41), depicts a memorial to sunken ships in the port of Sevastopol, where Russia keeps its Black Sea Fleet, and the Swallow's Nest, a clifftop castle near Yalta.
The yellow-colored note also features a watermark of Empress Catherine the Great, who extended the borders of the Russian Empire in the 18th century to absorb Crimea.
Russia's central bank said in a statement it would issue 20 million of the new notes. It has previously minted a 10-ruble coin to celebrate Russia's control of Crimea.
Russia seized Crimea from Ukraine in March last year in a military operation denounced by the West, which imposed retaliatory sanctions on Moscow that remain in place. (Reuters, AFP, Interfax)