This is higher than the death toll of two that Ukrainian officials were reporting earlier today.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov speaking today at a joint news conference with Belgian Foreign Minister Didier Reynders in Moscow:
"We hope that the coordinated line of contact will actually enable the so-called regime of silence and the beginning of the withdrawal of heavy armaments on both sides of the line."
As winter sets in, fighters in eastern Ukraine face a new enemy -- the cold. Evhen Solonyna of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service visited a pro-government checkpoint north of Mariupol on November 8, where soldiers from the Poltava volunteer brigade said they lacked winter uniforms, boots, and thermal underwear.
From our newsroom:
Supplies of Russian gas are flowing to Ukraine after a six-month suspension.
Maksim Belyavskiy, the head of Ukrainian gas transportation network Ukrtransgaz, said on December 9 that gas supplies from Russia to his country have resumed.
Belyavskiy said Ukraine should receive some 43.5 million cubic meters of gas daily for the rest of this month.
State-controlled Russian exporter Gazprom confirmed it resumed deliveries to Ukraine after received a $378 million prepayment for 1 billion cubic meters of gas for December.
Russia suspended gas shipments to Ukraine in June as tension mounted following the ouster of Ukranian President Viktor Yanukovych and Moscow's annexation of Crimea.
Gazprom cited Ukraine's multibillion-dollar gas debt and demanded prepayment for future supplies.
The resumption of supplies follows an October 30 deal signed by Russia, Ukraine, and the EU to ensure deliveries to Ukraine over the winter.
Based on reporting from Interfax and Reuters
The Minsk talks are indeed delayed, it appears.
Pro-Kyiv military blogger Dmitry Tymchuk says "two consolidated...tactical group[s]" of "Russian troops and Russian mercenaries" have arrived in Donetsk in "recent days."