From our newsroom:
The lawyer for a Ukrainian Air Force pilot being held in Russia said his client had launched a hunger strike to protest a decision to deny her medical attention.
Mark Feigin said his client, Nadiya Savchenko, announced her hunger strike on December 15 via video conference with Feigin.
Savchenko said her hunger strike was meant to protest a decision denying her a meeting with an ear-nose-throat doctor due to concerns she might be going deaf.
Savchenko says she was captured in eastern Ukraine by pro-Russian separatists during fighting in June and transferred to Russian custody in July.
Russian authorities have charged her with complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists who died covering the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
In late October, a Moscow court ordered that she be held until the end of February while the investigation into her alleged crimes was being conducted.
Based on reporting by Interfax and RFE/RL
Reuters quotes a Moscow resident, Nadezhda, talking about the fall of the ruble:
"I think it's all related to the sanctions they imposed on us. But it didn't impact us at all. We are optimists, we hope for the best."
From our Brussels correspondent, @RikardJozwiak, some of the remarks today from NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk:
Stoltenberg: "NATO stands with you and we are supporting you both politically and we also provide practical support and we are eager to strengthen our partnership."
Stoltenberg: "Today we have also discussed Russia's continued illegal actions to destabilize Ukraine and Mr. Prime Minister you have shown a real desire to find a peaceful solution to the crisis in Ukraine and NATO fully supports Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity and we strongly believe that the Minsk agreement offer the best way to a peaceful solution. Ukraine has made a real effort to live up to those commitments and we call on Russia to do the same."
Stoltenberg: "NATO doesn't possess weapons or equipment so NATO does not provide equipment to any partner because we do not posses them. Then it is up to each individual NATO ally to decide what kind of support, what kind of equipment they provide."
Yatsenyuk: "We believe that the best solution of this conflict which is in the east, [will be] when Russia will execute the Minsk deal, if Russia seals the border, if Russia pulls back its forces, if Russia pulls its agents and if Russia stops the supply of lethal weapons and ammunition to Russian-led terrorists."
Yatsenyuk: "On NATO membership perspective, I do remember nine months ago when in this very building I said that NATO membership is not yet on our radars and I will tell you that the screen of this radar has entirely changed. Today we detected at this radar, Russian tanks, Russian howitzers, Russian soldiers, and Russian military boots on the ground.
Yatsenyuk: "I want to be very clear that the Ukrainian President, the Ukrainian Prime Minister and the Ukrainian authorities have one joint position over all national security and defense issues. It is our joint decision to eliminate the so-called non-block statues that was granted to Russia by then President [Viktor] Yanukovych."
Yatsenyuk: "We need to pass reforms and to implement reforms that are needed in the security sector, in the political sector, in economy, in justice to meet all standards and criteria that apply to NATO member states."
Yatsenyuk: "Under the current Ukraine legislation we are to hold a referendum on the suggested NATO membership perspective and the fourth issue: if we succeed in implementing and executing everything that I just indicated we will be ready to join the alliance."
From our newsroom:
The United Nations says at least 4,707 people have been killed in eastern Ukraine since mid-April.
The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine said in its eighth monthly report that some 10,322 people were wounded in the same period.
The report, which was launched in Kyiv on December 15 by UN Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights Ivan Simonovic, said at least 1,357 people have been killed since the declaration of a truce on September 5.
The report said the lives of 5.2 million residents living in the conflict-wracked region were deteriorating further with the onset of winter and a complete breakdown of local infrastructure that has left homes without water or heat.
But the 27-page report was careful to assign blame for the humanitarian crisis to both Ukraine's pro-Western government and the mostly Russian-speaking insurgents who rebelled in April against Kyiv.
"The efforts of the government to safeguard the territorial integrity of Ukraine and restore law and order in the conflict zone have been accompanied by arbitrary detentions, torture, and enforced disappearances of people suspected of 'separatism and terrorism,'" the report said, adding, "Most of such human rights violations appear to have been perpetrated by certain voluntary battalions or by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU)."
Kyiv and pro-Russian separatist leaders struck their fourth cease-fire agreement last week that was supposed to be coincide with a new round of comprehensive peace negotiations involving European and Russian diplomats in the Belarussian capital Minsk.
But the meeting has been delayed by the foes' failure to agree on a clear agenda.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has renewed his call on Russia to honor obligations under the Septmebr 5 cease-fire deal.
Yatsenyuk told a joint news briefing with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on December 15, "We are calling on the Russian government to abide by the agreement and start a peace process in Ukraine."
He added, "We believe that the best solution of this conflict which is in the east, [will be] when Russia will execute the Minsk deal."
Stoltenberg, too, called on Moscow to abide by the Minsk accords. He also reassured Kyiv of the alliance's continued support.
"NATO stands with you and we are supporting you both politically and we also provide practical support and we are eager to strengthen our partnership." said Stoltenberg.
With reporting by by AFP, Reuters, AP, and Interfax