Here's an interesting item from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
MOSCOW -- The trial has begun in a Moscow court of five Russians charged with hate crimes over a stunt in which a Soviet star atop a Stalin-era skyscraper was painted in the yellow-and-blue colors of the Ukrainian flag.
A Ukrainian flag was also hoisted over the wedding-cake apartment tower near the Kremlin early on August 20, 2014.
The politically charged prank came amid rising tension between Moscow and Kyiv following Russia's takeover of Crimea and the start of the war between government forces and Russia-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.
The five defendants -- three men and two women -- have been charged with "vandalism and hooliganism aimed to destabilize the situation in Moscow and provoke hatred."
They could be sentenced to seven years in prison if convicted.
The stunt was carried out in the dark of night at a 32-story apartment building in a prominent spot downriver from the Kremlin -- one of Moscow's hulking, distinctive "seven sisters" buildings erected under dictator Josef Stalin.
Four defendants -- Anna Lepyoshkina, Yevgenia Korotkova, Aleksandr Pogrebov, and Aleksei Shirokozhukhov -- were detained within hours, and are accused of drawing attention to the flag and painted star by jumping from the 176-meter building with parachutes.
They pleaded not guilty at the hearing on August 17 at Moscow's Taganka district court.
The fifth defendant, Vladimir Podrezov, is accused of helping Ukrainian stunt daredevil Pavlo Ushyvets -- known by the nickname Mustang Wanted -- to paint the star and hoist the Ukrainian flag.
Podrezov pleaded "partially guilty," saying that he climbed on the top of the building without knowing of Ushyvets's plan to put up the flag.
Defense lawyers told RFE/RL on August 17 that their clients were simply thrill-seekers and had nothing to do with the stunt.
Ushyvets, who is in Ukraine, announced on Facebook two days after the stunt that he carried it out and said the defendants now on trial in Russia had nothing to do with it.
Ushyvets said that his action was meant to celebrate Ukrainian Independence Day, which is marked on August 24, and to honor Ukrainians who have died in the conflict in the east.
Ushyvets has also said that he is ready to face trial in Russia if the authorities release Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, who is being tried in Russia on charges of involvement in the killing of two Russian journalists who died while covering the conflict.
(With reporting by rapsinews.ru)
Here's a stat from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
902 -- the number of Ukrainian military personnel released from captivity in 2014-2015, according to information released by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.
As this latest map of the military situation from Ukraine's Defense Ministry shows, things do seem to be hotting up in the Donbas:
The Ukrainian crisis keeps throwing up surprising ramifications...
Much has been written about how Russia and China have been cozying up to each other recently. Not so much has been written about China's investment in Ukraine:
Ukraine’s KSG Agro released a statement today, Sept. 24, denying reports that it had reached an agreement to sell 3 million hectares to a Chinese firm. Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post had reported a deal between KSG Agro and China’s Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, (XPCC) in which China would be able to farm the area for up to 50 years. The paper cited a statement from XPCC as the source of its report. Quartz and other media also reported on the story.
In its statement, the Warsaw-listed agricultural firm said that it is only working with its Chinese partners on a project to install drip-irrigation systems over an area of 3,000 hectares in Ukraine next year. “KSG Agro does not intend or have any right to sell land to foreigners, including the Chinese,” the statement posted on their website said. China’s XPCC could not be immediately reached for comment.
Read the entire story here