In an interview with Reuters in Berlin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's foreign policy advisor Kostiantyn Yeliseyev said on September 14 that the Zapad 2017 war games involving Russia and Belarus are “very dangerous since they are taking place just near the border with Ukraine.”
Yeliseyev added that the exercises’ purpose is to “destabilize the military situation close to the border with NATO member states” and to “keep as long as possible Russian military troops and weaponry near the [Ukrainian] border and then to use them as a platform for a possible future offensive operation.”
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
U.S. Coal Shipment Arrives In Ukraine
The first shipment of coal from the United States has arrived in Ukraine, part of a deal between a Ukrainian state-owned energy firm and a Pennsylvania-based mining company. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Thursday, September 14, 2017. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage. Thanks for reading and take care.