From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says Kyiv will cut off funding to the parts of eastern Ukraine held by pro-Russian separatists until "terrorists" leave.
But Yatsenyuk said at a cabinet meeting on November 5 that gas and electricity supplies to separatist-held areas in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions would continue to help "ordinary people" during the winter.
He said some $2.6 billion in government funds would be withheld from the separatist-controlled areas.
Yatsenyuk said separatist leaders who have defied the Ukrainian government by holding elections on November 2 should take care of themselves financially and that Kyiv would not fund "imposters and conmen."
He said financial aid -- including social payments -- would resume when Kyiv regains control of rebel-held territories.
Yatsenyuk also called on Moscow to stop supporting the separatists.
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
A Russian actor who caused outrage by firing a machine gun toward Ukrainian forces in a rebel-held part of eastern Ukraine while wearing patches identifying him as a journalist has received a public rebuke (seen in the video above) on stage after a performance.
During a curtain call at a prominent Moscow theater on November 4, a woman threw a toy pistol in Mikhail Porechenkov's direction and shouted: "Take it, Misha! You like to shoot Ukrainians -- come on, shoot me!"
The woman, Katerina Maldon, said she was an activist and wanted to make Porechenkov "understand what he has done."
Porechenkov did not react onstage.
He later described Maldon as mentally "deficient."
On October 31, Ukraine's Interior Ministry filed criminal charges against Porechenkov.
Russia's Union of Journalists called what he did "irresponsible" and demanded an apology.
Porechenkov said that it was a staged scene, that he was firing blanks, and that the bullet-resistant vest and helmet labeled "Press" were given to him by pro-Russian rebels.
Based on reporting by zn.ua and bloknot.ru
NSDC: Two Ukrainian soldiers killed, nine wounded in past 24 hours
(Interfax) -- Two Ukrainian soldiers have been killed in the east in the past 24 hours, the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) said.
"We have lost two servicemen killed and nine wounded over the past day," NSDC Information Analysis Center Speaker Andriy Lysenko said at a press conference in Kyiv on Wednesday.
Just in from Reuters:
Merkel aide wants EU travel ban on new Ukraine rebel leadership
BERLIN, Nov 5 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkel's top foreign policy advisor said on Wednesday he wants Ukrainian separatist leaders who were elected in Sunday's contested vote added to a list of rebels and Russian officials banned from travelling to the European Union.
"These are people whom I would say should be put on the list of visa bans," Christoph Heusgen said at a conference on foreign policy in Berlin, reiterating Berlin's view that the elections in eastern Ukraine violated September's ceasefire deal in Minsk.
From the dramatic account "The Battle of Ilovaisk: Details of a Massacre Inside Rebel-Held Eastern Ukraine" by Lucian Kim of "Newsweek":
Poroshenko promised the crowd imminent victory in his country’s proxy war against Russia. Crimea may have been lost without a fight, but eastern Ukraine would be different. “I am confident that the battle for Ukraine, for independence will end in success,” he said.
Little did Poroshenko know that 400 miles to the east a catastrophe was unfolding that would become a turning point in the war. The columns of armor Poroshenko said would be sent directly from Independence Square to the front line would hardly be enough to stop a stealth invasion by regular Russian troops.
This report tells in detail for the first time the pivotal events that made up the Battle of Ilovaisk. Reporting from both sides of the hastily drawn border in eastern Ukraine, and hearing evidence from key Ukrainian players and pro-Russian rebels, this account describes the Russian ambush of Ukrainian forces that forced Poroshenko to plead for an immediate cease-fire.
Read the full story here.
Just in from AFP:
Ukraine's prime minister said Wednesday that financial aid from the central government to the separatist eastern region will be stopped until "terrorists clear out of there."
However, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk told a cabinet meeting that Ukraine would maintain gas and electricity supplies so as to spare "ordinary people" during the winter.
Here is today's situation map of eastern Ukraine by the National Security and Defense Council:
