Kiev

Russia said on Sept. 9 it hoped that talks on the status of eastern Ukraine would start shortly between Kiev and pro-Moscow rebels.

EU Council President Herman van Rompuy has announced the bloc put off for "a few days" the enforcement of new measures against Russia.

He tied the sanctions to the situation in Ukraine's Donbass region, where pro-Russian rebels signed last week a truce agreement with the government in Kiev.

The number of people confirmed killed in the Ukraine conflict has risen above 3,000 if the victims of the MH17 plane crash are included, and the actual figure may be significantly higher, a senior U.N. human rights official said on Sept. 8.
   

Romanian President Traian Basescu said at the presidential Cotroceni Palace late on Sunday that he 'categorically' disagrees with Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko, who had said on Saturday Russia could shortly conquer Bucharest.

Twelve warships from NATO and other countries are to stage naval exercises, known as Sea Breeze, in the Black Sea.

Hosted by Ukraine, the drills are led by the US.

The maneuvers are held on an annual basis (and have been since 1997) and are not related to the developments in Ukraine and its standoff with Russia.

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has announced Moscow could restrict the movement of foreign flights in its airspace if new sector sanctions are introduced against the country.

"If there are sanctions related to energy [or] further restrictions to our financial sector, we have to respond asymmetrically," Russian agency ITAR-TASS quoted Medvedev as saying.

Leaders of self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics have urged the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to ensure control over the ceasefire observance in southeast Ukraine.

Kiev officials and representatives of pro-Russian rebels have signed a ceasefire agreement at their meeting in Minsk, Friday.

Heavy fighting around flashpoint cities in eastern Ukraine on Sunday threatened the collapse of a tenuous truce between government forces and pro-Russian rebels less than 48 hours after it came into force.
      

Gunfire and heavy shelling rocked a key frontline city in eastern Ukraine overnight, raising fears on Sept. 7 that a tenuous truce between government and rebel forces had already collapsed.
     

Kiev officials and representatives of pro-Russian rebels have signed a ceasefire agreement at their meeting in Minsk.