Poroshenko cancels visit to Turkey, calls urgent Security Council meeting

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has cancelled a visit to Turkey and convened an urgent national security council meeting over the situation in the Donetsk region, the presidential press service said on Thursday.

"I have decided to cancel the working visit to Turkey in connection with the sharp deterioration of the situation in the Donetsk region, in particular in the Amvrosiyevka and Starobeshevo," he said.

Good borders make good neighbours, Merkel tells Ukraine

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Saturday the standoff over Ukraine could be solved only if control was tightened over the Ukraine-Russia border across which, the West alleges, Russia has been funnelling arms to help a separatist rebellion.

Merkel was visiting Kiev as a prelude to a meeting next week between the Russian and Ukrainian leaders that diplomats say is the best chance in months of a peace deal in eastern Ukraine, where government forces are fighting pro-Moscow rebels.

UN to hold emergency meeting over Russian aid convoy

 The United Nations Security Council is to hold emergency consultations this evening after Russia sent an aid convoy rolling into eastern Ukraine.
  Lithuania requested the meeting to be held at 3pm local time (7pm Irish time) to discuss the entry of scores of trucks that Ukraine has described as an "invasion”. The Pentagon has said the US is very concerned about the movement of the convoy into the Ukraine and has urged Moscow to withdraw it immediately. 

UN: Ban fordert Waffenruhe in Ukraine für russischen Hilfskonvoi

UN-Generalsekretär Ban Ki-moon hat zu einer Waffenruhe in der Ukraine aufgerufen, damit russische Hilfslieferungen die notleidende Bevölkerung im Osten des Landes erreichen können.

Der Generalsekretär setze sich für einen Waffenstillstand und eine diplomatische Regelung, damit die Hilfe die bedürftigen Menschen erreichen könne, sagte Bans Sprecher Stéphane Dujarric am Donnerstag in New York. Zuvor bereits hatte Moskau das ukrainische Militär und die Milizen aufgefordert, für die Sicherheit des 1900-Tonnen-Hilfskonvois die Kämpfe einzustellen.

Red Cross team enters eastern Ukraine to smooth way for Russian convoy

GENEVA - Red Cross officials entered eastern Ukraine on Wednesday to smooth the planned delivery of relief supplies aboard a Russian aid convoy, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said.

The convoy has been stuck at the Russia-Ukraine border for nearly a week due to Ukrainian concerns it could serve as a Trojan horse to infiltrate military supplies to pro-Russian separatists in the area. Moscow says the mission is purely humanitarian in support of civilians trapped by the conflict.

Ukraine: UN alarmed by intensifying clashes, mounting casualties in country’s east

UN, 8 August 2014 – A senior United Nations human rights official today declared the situation in Eastern Ukraine “extremely alarming” with intensifying fighting, mounting casualties and serious damage to infrastructure.
Briefing the Security Council, Ivan Šimonović, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, expressed concern over the “rapid professionalization of armed groups, which are increasingly well-organized and equipped with heavy weaponry.”

Ukraine: UN urges central registration system amid rising internal displacement

UN, 5 August 2014 – With thousands fleeing the intensifying violence in eastern Ukraine, the United Nations refugee agency today urged the Government to establish a central registration system which would help coordinate relief efforts for the already 117,000 internally displaced people (IDPs).

“In the past seven days more than 6,200 people have been forced from their homes,” Vincent Cochetel, the Director for the European Bureau at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) told reporters in Geneva today.