From our News Desk:
Ukraine's Batkivshchyna party has kicked out hundreds of members from its ranks as part of the country's lustration campaign.
The party's leader, Yulia Tymoshenko, told the ICTV television channel on September 12 that 1,518 members of her party had been expelled after their "dishonest" activities were revealed during implementation of the lustration law.
According to Tymoshenko, checks revealed that some individuals representing her party in Ukraine's parliament and regional power structures "dishonestly" voted for "illegal" land distribution and state budget allocations during the last 2 1/2 years.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko signed the lustration bill into law on October 9.
Under the law, up to 1 million public servants, including cabinet ministers, will be screened for loyalty to root out the corrupt practices of the administration of former President Viktor Yanukovych.
Here is today's situation map of eastern Ukraine by the National Security and Defense Council:
From our News Desk:
Aleksandr Zakharchenko, prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) in eastern Ukraine, has been officially registered as a candidate in elections planned for the region, which is currently under the control of pro-Russian separatists.
Roman Lyahin, the so-called chairman of the election commission in the DNR, announced on October 13 that Zakharchenko had received clearance to run in elections planned for next month.
Lyahin said Zakharchenko was the first candidate to hand in all the required documents and so will be the first name appearing on ballots.
It was unclear if any other candidates would be registered.
Last week, Lyahin said Zakharchenko was the only person collecting signatures to register.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said any local elections held in Ukraine must be conducted in accordance with Ukrainian laws, indicating Kyiv will not consider the polls planned for Donetsk or Luhansk, another separatist-held region in eastern Ukraine, to be legitimate.
Editor's Note: Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko gave a speech on implementation of his peace plan on October 12 in Kharkiv:
Dear compatriots!
In September, almost a month ago, a protocol on the implementation of the Peace Plan of the President of Ukraine was approved in Minsk. NATO Summit in Newport was held at the same time.
What have we managed to achieve in this difficult time since the signature of the protocol?
The first result.
We have managed to stop the offensive of the enemy along the whole front.
I mean not mercenaries, not militants-terrorists, but well-trained units of the regular army of the neighboring country.
Hundreds of interventionists that will never come back home have been stopped by our warriors.
It has become a powerful argument in favor of peace on the other side of the border.
Read the full text in English here, courtesy of the "Kyiv Post."
From RFE/RL's News Desk:
Russian investigators say Ukrainian Air Force pilot Nadiya Savchenko, who is in Russian custody, has been placed in a medical facility in Moscow to undergo a psychiatric examination.
The Investigative Committee's spokesman, Vladimir Markin, said on October 13 that a psychiatric examination is a standard procedure in cases when a person is charged with serious crimes and could face the harshest penalties possible under Russian law.
Savchenko is charged with complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists who died while covering the conflict between pro-Russian separatists and government forces in eastern Ukraine.
Savchenko denies the charges.
Savchenko's lawyer, Mark Feigin, has said his client had lodged a protest against the psychiatric examination.
Savchenko was captured in June. Kyiv has demanded her release.