Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with a look ahead from RFE/RL's news desk to a NATO meeting in Croatia today:
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is sponsoring a conference in Split, Croatia, on November 13 that brings together government officials and defense industry representatives for security talks.
NATO-Industry Forum 2014 is seen as the first major opportunity since the alliance's September 4-5 summit in Wales for NATO members and defense industry representatives to discuss the Ukraine crisis and the fight against Islamic State militants in Iraq and Syria.
A NATO statement about the event says recent developments "in Ukraine, the Middle East, and North Africa have put readiness at the top of NATO priorities."
NATO is expressing growing concern about violations of the Russian-brokered September 5 cease-fire agreement for eastern Ukraine.
On November 12, NATO’s top commander in Europe accused Russia of sending armored columns into eastern Ukraine to bolster pro-Russian separatists.
Croatia joined NATO in 2009.
This ends our live-blogging for November 12. Please check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage of the conflict in Ukraine.
UN warns Ukraine could return to "full-scale fighting," our news desk reports:
The United Nations Security Council has met in emergency session on Ukraine as UN officials warned of a possible return to “full-scale fighting” in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine.
The November 12 Security Council meeting came hours after NATO’s top commander in Europe said “multiple columns” of Russian tanks, artillery, and antiaircraft units had crossed from Russia into eastern Ukraine since November 10.
Russia says there is no evidence its armed forces are in eastern Ukraine.
There was no proposed UN resolution on November 12 against Russia, which has veto powers on the Security Council.
U.S. Ambassador Samatha Power told the Security Council on November 12 that Russia “talks of peace, but it keeps fueling war” in eastern Ukraine.
International monitors say they’ve seen unmarked military forces bolstering separatist positions in recent days.
OSCE Secretary-General Lamberto Zannier said in Brussels on November 12 that video from OSCE monitor drones showed "nondescript militias wearing no identification [fighting] on the side of the rebels" and firing antiaircraft weapons at the drones.
He said the OSCE drones, meant to monitor a September 5 cease-fire deal, also are being subjected to "high-end military-grade jamming” from an unknown location. (Reuters, AP, AFP, and TASS)