That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Sunday, October 16. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage.
Top Separatist Commander Killed In Eastern Ukraine
By RFE/RL
KYIV -- A top commander of the Russia-backed separatists in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk has died in an apparent assassination.
Arsen Pavlov, a Russian citizen who was better known by the nickname Motorola, was leading the Sparta battalion. He was 33.
He had taken part in battles against Ukrainian forces around the Donetsk airport and boasted about having killed 15 Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Pavlov succumbed to injuries after an improvised explosive device detonated as he entered the elevator of his Donetsk apartment building on October 16, Interfax reported.
The news agency said a bodyguard also died in the blast.
The Donetsk separatist leadership confirmed Pavlov’s death and said an investigation was under way.
Separatist leader Denis Pushilin said a Ukrainian sabotage group was to blame for the killing.
The government in Kyiv has not commented.
Fighting between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk has killed more than 9,600 people since April 2014.
A tweet from the Swedish foreign minister: