As some have remarked, this is quite impressive considering the travails the country has been enduring:
Here's another item from our news desk that could also have ramifications for Ukraine:
Putin Meets Le Pen, Says Not Seeking To Influence French Vote
President Vladimir Putin has met with French far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen in the Kremlin and told her that Moscow reserves the right to meet any French politician it wanted.
At the unannounced meeting on March 24, Putin also said that Russia is not seeking to influence the upcoming French election.
"We by no means want to influence the current events, but we reserve the right to communicate with all representatives of all political forces of the country," the Interfax news agency quoted Putin as saying.
He said "our partners in Europe and the United States" have the same right.
At earlier talks with Russian lawmakers, Le Pen called for closer ties between the two countries in the face of “two gigantic, monumental challenges, namely globalism and Islamic fundamentalism."
Visiting Russia amid a highly charged presidential election campaign in France, far-right candidate Marine Le Pen has called for closer ties between the two countries and the removal of sanctions Western governments have imposed on Moscow over its interference in Ukraine.
"It is absolutely inconceivable that because of the sanctions, Russian and French lawmakers are not able even to meet to discuss issues that are of the great importance for protecting peace and the lives of our citizens," Le Pen told the foreign affairs committee of the State Duma, Russia's lower parliament house, on March 24.
The European Union, the United States, and other countries have imposed sanctions on Russia over its seizure of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in March 2014 and its support for separatists whose war against government forces has killed more than 9,900 people in eastern Ukraine.
Le Pen, leader of France’s National Front (FN) party, has repeatedly called for closer ties with Russian President Vladimir Putin and said she does not consider Moscow's annexation of Crimea illegal.
Her one-day visit comes a month before the April 23 first round of the French election, one of a series of votes in EU countries this year that are seen as a test of Russia's influence in the West. After U.S. intelligence agencies released a report in January saying they assessed that Putin ordered an "influence campaign" to interfere in the presidential election, there are fears that the Kremlin has been seeking to sway elections in France, Germany, and other countries.
'Courageous' Visit
Duma committee head Leonid Slutsky said Le Pen's visit was "courageous," the Russian news agency Interfax reported.
State Duma speaker Vyacheslav Volodin told reporters that Le Pen would visit an exhibition of French Gothic art at the Kremlin. It was unclear whether she would meet Putin or senior government officials.
Opinion polls ahead of the French election suggest that Le Pen is likely to reach a second-round run-off vote on May 7, but would probably lose to a centrist candidate.
Conservative presidential hopeful Francois Fillon has also called for better relations with Moscow. Frontrunner Emmanuel Macron, an independent who backs the EU sanctions against Russia, has accused the Kremlin of being involved in cyberattacks.
Le Pen has made multiple trips to Russia in the past, receiving positive coverage in the Russian state media.
Her relationship with Russia has been in the spotlight during the election campaign, partly because of a $9.7 million loan the National Front took from a Russian bank in 2014. Her party said that French banks had refused to lend it any money.
National Front members have said they are seeking millions of euros to fund presidential and parliamentary elections this year, but treasurer Wallerand de Saint-Just said Le Pen's visit was not a cash-raising exercise.
Russia has denied reports that it is trying to influence the French election campaign.
On March 23, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said allegations that Russia was interfering in electoral processes in France and Germany as "absolutely fictional."
Lavrov said Le Pen was not a "populist" or "marginal" but a "realist or anti-globalist" figure.
The French presidential election is followed by parliamentary elections in June.
German voters will elect the members of the Bundestag in September, with Chancellor Angela Merkel facing a tough fight.
With reporting by AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters, TASS, and Interfax
Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry:
And speaking of the munitions fire, our news desk has this update:
Woman's Body Found In Debris At Blazing Ukrainian Munitions Depot
Ukrainian officials say a woman's body has been found under debris at the site of a massive munitions-depot fire near the eastern city of Kharkiv.
The chief of Ukraine's Emergency Service, Mykola Chechotkin, said on March 24 that the body of a woman born in 1951 had been found in a damaged building late the previous evening.
Explosions and fires that broke out at the munitions depot in Balakliya early on March 23 prompted the evacuation of some 20,000 people.
The depot stores some 138,000 tons of ammunition and is used to supply Ukrainian forces fighting Russia-backed separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
Ukrainian authorities blamed "sabotage" and President Petro Poroshenko pointed the finger at Russia.
Authorities had said on March 23 that one woman was injured.
Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman said earlier that the fire has affected half of the 368-hectare depot and could continue for up to seven days.
Based on reporting by UNIAN and Interfax
Here's a video of the fire at a munitions depot that broke out yesterday (from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service):
Drone Footage Shows Scale Of Ukraine Fire
Reports from Ukraine said fires and explosions were continuing at a huge ammunition store in Balaklia, near Kharkiv in the northeast of the country. Drone footage shot on March 23 showed the extent of the disaster, which Ukrainian authorities blamed on sabotage.
