The Ukrainian military says it has repelled an attack by pro-Russian separatists on Donetsk airport. Gunfire was heard from the area on today (Saturday) despite the eight-day cease-fire between rebels and government forces in the eastern Ukraine. The Russians have also sent in a convoy of 220 trucks to the other major separatist stronghold of Luhansk, claiming them to be carrying humanitarian aid, according to reports by Reuters and AFP as cited by Radio Free Europe.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has said that the Kremlin wants to “eliminate” the Ukraine as an independent country. While speaking at a conference of Western and Ukrainian lawmakers and businessmen in Kiev today, Yatsenyuk claimed that Putin was trying to “restore the former Soviet Union.”