More on the Ukrainian Orthodox church story from RFE/RL's news desk:

In A First, Greek Church Recognizes Orthodox Church Of Ukraine

An extraordinary meeting of the leadership of the Church of Greece decided on October 12 to recognize the autocephalous Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU), making it the first of the Eastern Orthodox churches to take such a step.

The Orthodox Times said the Greeks' formal recognition will take place on October 19 in Thessaloniki, with Archbishop Ieronymos and the OCU's Metropolitan Epifaniy of Kyiv and All Ukraine present.

The Church of Greece's so-called Hierarchy's majority vote was reportedly opposed by seven metropolitans.

The Patriarchate of Constantinople, generally considered the spiritual headquarters for Orthodoxy, granted the Orthodox Church of Ukraine independence in January in a move that was adamantly resisted by Moscow and the Russian Orthodox Church.

The new Orthodox Church of Ukraine installed its first metropolitan, Epifaniy, at a ceremony in Kyiv on February 3 in a process that further established the new church body's independence.

But recognition has not followed from other Orthodox churches -- until now.

Supporters hope the Greek move could give impetus to other Orthodox churches that have been balking at such a step.

For years there were three main rival Orthodox churches in Ukraine, the Moscow Patriarchate being the largest among them.

Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula and the ongoing five-year war between Ukrainian government forces and Russia-backed separatists exacerbated tensions over that rivalry, with Ukraine's then-president, Petro Poroshenko, making independence for the Ukrainian national church a priority last year.

The Russian Orthodox Church has since cut off relations with the Constantinople Patriarchate since it delivered the so-called tomos of autocephaly to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

Here's more on the Giuliani story from our news desk:

Trump Defends Giuliani As 'Great Guy And Wonderful Lawyer'

U.S. President Donald Trump took to Twitter on October 12 to defend his personal lawyer, Rudolf Giuliani, after reports said Giuliani was under federal investigation over actions relating to Ukraine that he says he took on Trump's behalf.

The New York Times has reported that federal investigators in New York are looking into whether Giuliani broke lobbying laws in his Ukraine dealings, which reportedly included seeking potentially damaging information on former vice president and current Democratic presidential hopeful Joe Biden and encouraging the ouster of the U.S. ambassador to Kyiv.

"So now they are after the legendary 'crime buster' and greatest Mayor in the history of NYC, Rudy Giuliani," Trump tweeted. "He may seem a little rough around the edges sometimes, but he is also a great guy and wonderful lawyer."

He went on to call the investigations "such a one sided Witch Hunt going on in USA," cited "deep state," and said it was "shameful."

The New York case also involves two of Giuliani's business associates who were taken into custody this week as they tried to fly out of the country, Ukraine-born Lev Parnas and Belarus-born Igor Fruman, both naturalized U.S. citizens.

Asked about the New York Times report, Giuliani told Reuters: "I never did any lobbying for anyone. If they want to ask me I’m happy to prove it. But they haven’t."

Giuliani has acknowledged that he and associates were working with Ukrainian prosecutors to get information on Biden, his son Hunter, who was being paid by a Ukrainian energy company, and the now-former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Marie Yovanovitch.

Yovanovitch, who is still a State Department employee, testified behind closed doors on October 11 to the House of Representatives impeachment inquiry against Trump that the president recalled her based on "unfounded and false claims" after Giuliani had targeted her.

U.S. lobbying laws make it a crime to fail to report to the Justice Department representation of foreign politicians or governments, paid or unpaid, in contacts with the U.S. government.

Giuliani has previously said he did nothing improper, and has said such allegations have no grounds because he was acting on behalf of Trump.

Democratic lawmakers began work on the impeachment inquiry after the White House released a detailed summary of a July telephone call between Trump and recently inaugurated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

In it, the U.S. president asks Zelenskiy to "do us a favor" by looking into a company that investigated election-related hacking before the 2016 U.S. election.

Trump then appears to ask Ukrainians to work with "the attorney general" in connection with "look[ing] into" actions by Biden and his son, according to the summary.

Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, and dpa

We are now closing the live blog for today, but we'll be back again tomorrow morning to follow all the latest developments. Until then, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.