Here is the latest Ukraine item from RFE/RL's news desk:
Officials in Washington and Moscow say U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov plan to meet in Rome on December 14 amid ongoing tensions over the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on December 13 that Lavrov could raise Moscow's concerns about legislation passed by the U.S. Congress known as the Ukraine Freedom Support Act.
The bill, which still requires U.S. President Barack Obama's signature, raises the prospects of harsher sanctions against Russia and the delivery of lethal U.S. military assistance to Kyiv for its fight against Kremlin-back separatists.
Ryabkov said Moscow would take counter measures if the legislation is implemented.
Asked about the unanimous approval of the bill this week by U.S. lawmakers, Ryabkov told Russia's Interfax news agency: "Certainly, we will not be able to leave that without an answer.
The legislation would open the way for the provision of up to $350 million worth of U.S. military hardware to Ukraine.
Those deliveries could include antitank and antiarmor weapons, radar, surveillance drones, and communications equipment.
Ukrainian lawmakers welcomed the decision by U.S. lawmakers as "historic."
The announcement of talks between Kerry and Lavrov comes a day after Lavrov and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko both suggested that prospects have improved for bringing about a diplomatic end to the war in eastern Ukraine.
Lavrov said on December 12 that "a chance to establish peace in Ukraine has emerged" because a truce was established and a cease-fire was being implemented.
He said: "We need to find a way to resume the work of the Contact Group" -- the mechanism for talks between representatives of Ukraine, the rebels, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) that produced a September 5 Minsk agreement on a cease-fire and steps toward peace.
Poroshenko also said on December 12 that a "real" cease-fire was in place between Ukrainian government forces and pro-Russian separatists.
But despite the fresh cease-fire, Kyiv and the separatists have been unable to reach agreement on when their next round of peace talks would be scheduled in Minsk.
Meanwhile, separatist leaders in Donetsk said there were several "insignificant violations" of the latest cease-fire on December 13.
(With reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, dpa, and Interfax)