Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, arguably straining credulity in remarks to journalists today, directly equated the Charlie Hebdo killings in Paris with the violence in Ukraine:
"I do not see any difference between the terrorist attack [in Paris] and the explosion of a bar in Kharkiv, a terrorist attack against a volunteers' office in Odesa, or terrorist attacks taking place in the occupied territories in Donetsk and Luhansk," he said.
From one of the Russian "volunteers" featured in the video report BBC Finds Russians Fighting In Eastern Ukraine:
"This is a holy war of the Russian people fighting for our future, for our ideals, for our children, and for our great country that 25 years ago was divided up into pieces."
EU countries are calling for an alternative to Russian "propaganda":
The countries of Britain, Denmark, Estonia, and Lithuania have called on the European Union to create information alternatives to Russian propaganda.
In a letter to EU foreign-policy chief Federica Mogherini, foreign ministers from the four countries said Moscow was suppressing independent media and increasing "disinformation" to counter Western criticism over the war in Ukraine.
The letter added that Kremlin propaganda aims to undermine EU and Western unity, and called on the EU to create alternative sources of information to counter Russian propaganda by 2016.
The call comes just days after EU President Latvia announced it is considering plans to launch a Russian-language TV channel with EU support.
A Foreign Ministry official said a final decision was due to be taken in May.
Nearly 40 percent of the population in Latvia and neighboring Estonia are native Russian speakers and regularly watch Russian-based television. (AFP, BuzzFeed, and Euractiv.com)
WATCH: In December, a family in eastern Ukraine was torn apart by fighting between government troops and separatists rebels. Baby Nika and her brother Vitya lost their mother and their home in a shell attack. The children's aunt is now taking care of them and her own young children as they struggle to put their lives back together. (Produced by Shahida Yakub, RFE/RL)
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Ukrainian military pilot Nadia Savchenko has been placed in solitary confinement at a pretrial detention center in Moscow.
Savchenko's lawyer Mark Feigin told RFE/RL on January 9 that she was moved to solitary confinement due to the hunger strike she has been holding for almost a month.
Savchenko was captured by pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine in June and jailed in Russia in July.
Russian authorities have charged her with complicity in the deaths of two Russian journalists who were killed covering the Ukraine conflict.
Savchenko denies the charges and says her transfer to Russia was illegal.
Feigin said that Savchenko, who underwent tests at a psychiatric facility against her will, has been found mentally fit to stand trial.
He said she has been under psychological pressure from investigators seeking to persuade her to plead guilty.
Savchenko's sister, Vira Savchenko, told RFE/RL that her sister is accepting glucose intravenously and drank some tea on Orthodox Christmas Day on January 7.
She has been mainly ingesting warm water for 26 days.
Here is today's situation map of eastern Ukraine by the National Security and Defense Council:
