Here's an update from Brussels by RFE/RL correspondent Rikard Jozwiak:
BRUSSELS -- The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says pro-Russian separatists have shot at some of its unarmed drones monitoring a shaky cease-fire in eastern Ukraine.
OSCE Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier said in Brussels on November 12 that video footage recorded by the drones shows "nondescript militias wearing no identification [fighting] on the side of the rebels" firing at the unmanned aerial vehicles with antiaircraft weapons.
Zannier said that the drones were also subjected to "high-end military-grade jamming," but added that he did not know where the jamming originated.
The OSCE on October 24 began drone flights to record truce violations and monitor the general security situation in eastern Ukraine, where more than 4,000 people have been killed since April in a conflict between government forces and the rebels.
Fighting has persisted despite the September 5 cease-fire, and NATO says convoys of Russian weapons and troops have entered the region in recent days.
Here's an item from our news desk on General Breedlove's comments:
NATO's top commander says the alliance has observed columns of Russian military equipment entering eastern Ukraine in the past two days.
Speaking in Sofia on November 12, U.S. General Philip Breedlove said the columns included Russian tanks, artillery, air defense systems, and combat troops.
"We do not have a good picture at this time of how many. We agree that there are multiple columns that we have seen," Breedlove said.
The Russian Defense Ministry later denied that Russia’s armed forces were present in Ukraine.
The Interfax news agency quoted ministry spokesman General-Major Igor Konashenkov as saying "there was and is no evidence" behind such statements.
Breedlove made the comments after a report from the OSCE said monitors had seen a convoy of 43 unmarked military trucks -- five towing howitzer artillery pieces and five towing multi-launch rocket systems -- travelling into the rebel stronghold of Donetsk on November 11.
Meanwhile, reports said heavy shelling rocked Donetsk, one of two provincial capitals held by pro-Russian rebels, on November 12.
An AFP correspondent said mortar shells were being fired from an area near the city center toward government-held positions around Donetsk's international airport.
The military movements and frequent shelling have raised fears of an escalation of the conflict that persists despite a September 5 cease-fire and has killed more than 4,000 people since April.
(AFP, Reuters)
More via AFP:
"Across the last two days we have seen the same thing that OSCE is reporting. We have seen columns of Russian equipment, primarily Russian tanks, Russian artillery, Russian air defence systems and Russian combat troops entering into Ukraine," US General Philip Breedlove said on a visit to Sofia.
NATO says Russian military equipment entering eastern Ukraine. -- AFP