That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Sunday, August 16. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading.
Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item from our news desk about some intense fighting in the port city of Mariupol:
An intense artillery duel has rocked the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol, with residents describing the battle as the heaviest fighting there in more than three months.
Correspondents say the fighting on August 17 was between government forces on the eastern side of Mariupol and artillery positioned to the east of the city in territory under the control of pro-Russian separatists.
Reports say houses were destroyed in the village of Sartana about five kilometers east of Mariupol, and that an oil depot has also been damaged.
The fighting comes after a week of intensifying clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists near the government-held coastal city on the Sea of Azov.
Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier on August 16 warned that the situation in eastern Ukraine is "explosive," saying urgent talks are needed to prevent "a new military escalation spiral."
Mariupol sits along a strategic coastal route linking separatist-controlled parts of eastern Ukraine with Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March 2014.
(Reuters, BBC, Interfax, TASS, Bild am Sonntag)
Our news desk has issued this item on U.S. plans to expand its drone program, which could also be peripherally significant for Ukraine:
The Wall Street Journal reports that the U.S. military is planning to drastically increase the number of drone flights it carries out in foreign airspace during the next four years.
The Pentagon plan aims to boost intelligence and air strike capabilities across a growing number of conflict zones, raising the number of daily flights from the current level of 61 to as many as 90 by 2019.
The move would provide extra surveillance in Ukraine, Iraq, Syria, the South China Sea, and North Africa.
It also would expand the Pentagon's capacity to carry out deadly air strikes.
The U.S. Air Force currently carries out most drone missions.
The new plan would lead to more drone flights carried out by the U.S. Army, Special Operations Command, and government contractors.
The move represents the first significant expansion of the U.S. drone program since 2011.
(The Wall Street Journal, AFP)
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
The Ukrainian crisis keeps throwing up surprising ramifications...