The number of representatives of the Russian Federation and countries friendly to it that are part of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) has increased significantly over the past year, notes Iryna Herashchenko, the First Deputy Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada and Ukraine's representative in the humanitarian subgroup of the Tripartite Contact Group.

"Very often in the mission there are representatives of those countries that have special sentiments towards Moscow, and sometimes they do not …

Since October 1, the Crimean authorities are launching an autumn conscription campaign in Sevastopol, following which 400 residents of Sevastopol will be sent for service in the Russian army, as reported by the Crimean Human Rights Group (HRG) on Facebook.

On September 27, the website of the government of Sevastopol reported that this was announced at the   meeting of the conscription commission chaired by the Deputy Governor of Sevastopol, Yuri Krivov. Out of 400 drafted, more than 100 people …

At a press conference in Kyiv, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said that there is no need to fear an escalation in the Donbas in the event that America provides weapons to Ukraine, as reported by Voice of America.

“Defense weapons do not provoke anyone unless you are the aggressor. And Ukraine is clearly not an aggressor, since military operations are taking place in its territory,” he said.

Luke Coffey, director of the conservative research group Allison Center for Foreign Policy …