Here's an item from Rikard Jozwiak, RFE/RL's correspondent in Brussels:
OSCE Monitor Says 70 Percent Of Restrictions In Ukraine Are In Separatist-Controlled East
A senior member of the monitoring mission in Ukraine from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) says 70 percent of the restrictions imposed on the free movement of monitors since May has been in areas outside of the control of Ukraine’s government.
Alexander Hug, deputy chief monitor of the OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, made the remark in an October 18 interview with RFE/RL.
Hug said the restrictions imposed in parts of eastern Ukraine under the control of Russia-backed separatists usually occur in one of three ways.
"We are either stopped and blocked from proceeding further, we can only continue further under certain conditions, or we are delayed over hours at a certain checkpoint before we then can go further," Hug said.
Hug also said drone planes used by monitors are shot at or have their transmissions jammed, or have their cameras sabotaged.
About 700 OSCE monitors have been active in Ukraine since March 2014.
They have a mandate to observe the security situation across all of Ukraine.
With reporting by RFE/RL's Rikard Jozwiak in Brussels
Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE):
A tweet from Ukraine's ambassador to Austria:
With the aim of reminding bureaucrats that they are now legally required to file electronic asset declarations, anticorruption activists played off the word "trusi," which means both underwear and cowards in Ukrainian, to taunt them in Kyiv. RFE/RL's Christopher Miller has more:
Ukrainian Anticorruption Activists Dare 'Sissy Pants' Officials To Declare Assets
KYIV -- Ukrainians are attempting to shame top public officials into disclosing their financial assets by calling those who don't "sissy pants."
Anticorruption activists played off the word "trusi," which means both underwear and cowards in Ukrainian, to emphasize their point as they assembled in front of the parliament building in Kyiv on October 18.
With the aim of reminding bureaucrats that they are now legally required to file electronic asset declarations, the activists from a half-dozen anticorruption and reform groups hung boxers and thongs from makeshift clotheslines, waved posters adorned with underwear, and demanded in English, "Hey, sissy pants, submit your e-declarations!"
Ukraine recently implemented a new electronic system for public officials to disclose their income and assets, part of a package of reforms demanded by Ukrainian reformists as well as the country's Western backers. The idea is to prevent public officials from hiding or underestimating their earnings and possessions, and the implementation of the new law is viewed as a much needed step in fighting systemic corruption.
The activists believe that officials should come clean to the public they serve by complying with the law, or risk exposing their own dirty laundry, so to speak. Failure to file an e-declaration risks criminal prosecution.
"Anyone who fails to file electronic declarations is subject to criminal liability," Vitaliy Shabunin, director of the Anticorruption Action Center (AntAC) and an organizer of the event, warned parliament deputies at the demonstration.
Read the entire article here.