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An activist stops a lorry near the village of Chongar, in the Kherson region adjacent to Crimea.
An activist stops a lorry near the village of Chongar, in the Kherson region adjacent to Crimea.

Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (ARCHIVE)

Follow all of the latest developments as they happen.

Final Summary For September 21

-- NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called on Russia to withdraw heavy weapons from eastern Ukraine.

-- No trucks have passed through the administrative border from mainland Ukraine to Crimea overnight, according to Oleh Slobodyan, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s State Border Service.

-- Hundreds of pro-Kyiv activists from Crimea's Tatar community and other opposition activists are taking part in the blockade of roads from Ukraine to the Crimean peninsula to protest Russia's annexation of the region last year.

-- The German government has criticized Russia for not distancing itself from plans by Russian-backed separatists to hold local elections in eastern Ukraine without consulting Kyiv.

*NOTE: Times are stated according to local time in Kyiv

18:16 8.9.2015

16:56 8.9.2015

Here's an update from our news desk on Andrei Purgin's situation:

Rebels in eastern Ukraine have released a separatist leader from detention after holding him captive for four days.

Andrei Purgin told the Reuters news agency that he was freed by rebel gunmen on September 8 in the Donetsk region.

He said he was kept in a cell at a "security ministry" since being taken at gunpoint on September 4 while travelling in a car after returning from Russia.

Purgin -- who was reportedly dismissed on September 4 as head of the self-declared parliament of the Donetsk People's Republic -- said he did not understand why he was detained.

"I haven't figured out what they wanted," he said.

Purgin has been a prominent representative of the rebels since fighting erupted in some parts of eastern Ukraine in April 2014.

He was also involved in peace talks in Minsk involving France, Germany, and Russia.

But Purgin was reportedly considered as hard-line among the separatist leadership and opposed to some of the key points of the Minsk cease-fire agreement.

More than 7,900 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee their homes because of the Ukraine conflict.

(Reuters)

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