Zelenskiy visits front line on Defenders Day as tens of thousands rally in Kyiv:
By RFE/RL
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has marked Ukraine's Defenders Day holiday with a visit to troops deployed on the front line in the eastern region of Donetsk, where Ukrainian armed forces have been fighting Russia-backed separatists for more than five years.
Zelenskiy, who rose to the presidency earlier this year on promises to end the conflict, on October 14 thanked Ukrainian troops for their "bravery" in defending the country in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people since April 2014.
The Ukrainian president also presented state awards to several Ukrainian soldiers and got acquainted with the situation along the line of contact, according to the presidential website.
In the capital, Kyiv, tens of thousands of people demonstrated on Independence Square, the Maidan, chanting nationalist slogans and decrying as "capitulation" a peace plan for eastern Ukraine that would include a pullback of heavy weaponry.
Zelenskiy's embrace of the plan, known as the Steinmeier Formula, has drawn opposition from right-wing groups, some veteran groups, and activists in Ukraine.
Since 2015, the October 14 anniversary of the creation of the controversial Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) has been marked as the Defenders Day public holiday.
The UPA was founded in western Ukraine during the Nazi occupation and fought against both Soviet and Nazi forces during World War II.
When the war ended, many UPA fighters continued to fight a guerrilla campaign against the Soviet authorities into the early 1950s.
The UPA is also accused of carrying out murderous campaigns against Poles and Jews. (w/AP)
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In Brussels, Prystayko cites "red lines" in peace talks:
By RFE/RL
Addressing European lawmakers in Brussels, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystayko has said Kyiv seeks to end the conflict in eastern Ukraine, but not at any cost.
"Ukraine is now and will stay a unitary state. We are not talking about a forceful federalization of Ukraine," Prystayko said on October 14 in an address to the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET).
"A second red line is that we are not changing our constitution the way Russia wants it," he added.
Prystayko said Kyiv was ready to grant the areas held by Russia-backed separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions "some sort of self-determination within the process of decentralization," which he said "is ongoing in Ukraine anyway."
Earlier in the day, Prystayko said in an interview that a summit to bring peace in eastern Ukraine could take place in Paris in mid-November if Kyiv and the separatists can maintain a cease-fire in the conflict that has killed some 13,000 people since April 2014.
This ends our live blogging for October 14. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.