We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back tomorrow to follow all the latest developments. Until then, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.
Good morning. We'll start the live blog today with this item from our news desk on the impending return of Mikheil Saakashvili to Ukraine:
Ukrainian Authorities Bracing Themselves For The Return Of Saakashvili
Ukrainian police are bracing themselves at checkpoints on the border with Poland for the expected arrival of Mikhail Saakashvili, the ex-president of Georgia and former governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region.
The 49-year-old Saakashvili has said he is determined to return to Ukraine on September 10 in a bid to reclaim the Ukrainian citizenship that was stripped from him.
But in doing so, Saakashvili runs the risk of being arrested at the request of Georgia's government or being refused entry into Ukraine on the grounds that he is a stateless person who lacks the necessary documents.
Tbilisi is seeking Saakashvili's arrest and extradition on allegations that he misappropriated property and abused his powers when he was president of his native Georgia from 2004 to 2013.
Saakashvili denies the allegations, saying the charges are politically motivated.
He says Georgia’s extradition request was made on behalf of "oligarchs" who fear his presence in Ukraine.
ALSO READ: Ukraine Braces For Saakashvili's Possible Return
Saakashvili went to Ukraine in 2015 to work for the country's pro-Western authorities as governor of the Odesa region.
He lost his Georgian citizenship when he was granted a Ukrainian passport in 2015 because Georgia does not allow dual citizenship.
Saakashvili quit the post of Odesa's regional governor in November 2016 after falling out with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko.
In July, Poroshenko stripped Saakashvili of his Ukrainian citizenship while Saakashvili was traveling abroad.
Saakashvili says he wants to return to challenge that decision in court and to return to politics.
He has said he will present his Ukrainian passport to Ukrainian border officials around noon local time on September 10, along with other "legal documents,"in his attempt to enter the country at the Krakovets checkpoint in western Ukraine's Lviv region.
He said he expects several Ukrainian politicians and parliamentary deputies to welcome him at the border -- including former Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and former Defense Minister Anatoliy Hrytsenko.
He said he also expects thousands of supporters of the political party that he created in Ukraine, the Movement of the New Forces.
With reporting by RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service, AFP, and TASS
While all eyes today are on western Ukraine, the situation in the east grinds on:
Mikheil Saakashvili has been talking to the press ahead of his attempt to reenter Ukraine. Here's a live feed of proceedings (in Ukrainian):