Kremlin aide: Putin-Zelenskiy tete-t-tete "likely" at Paris summit:
By RFE/RL
Russian President Vladimir Putin is "likely" for the first time to have a face-to-face dialogue with Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy next month in Paris, where a summit is planned with the leaders of France and Germany aimed at resolving the armed Donbas conflict.
"I think a separate meeting is becoming increasingly more likely," top Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov told journalists in Moscow on November 27. "After all, they will be in the same room, and it's natural that they will talk to each other."
French President Emmanuel Macron plans to host the four-way peace talks on December 9 with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Putin, and Zelenskiy.
The previous meeting between the four countries was in October 2016, which didn't succeed in defusing the bloody five-year conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people.
Ushakov told reporters that the summit's program was still being finalized.
While on an official visit to Lithuania the same day, Zelenskiy said he was ready for meetings with every state leader at the upcoming Paris summit known as the Normandy talks.
The United States said it was behind Ukraine and called on Russia to live up to its part of commitments in a 2015 road map for deescalating the conflict.
"Our support for Ukraine's sovereignty is unwavering, and we are committed to working with our Allies and partners to keep pressure on Russia to live up to its commitments," Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said in a statement.
State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus praised the "prudent but difficult steps towards peace and reform" taken by Zelenskiy.
Bringing peace to the two war-torn easternmost Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk was a main campaign promise by Zelenskiy, who was elected to the presidency in May.
Zelenskiy, 41, has yet to meet with the 67-year-old Putin, though they’ve spoken on the phone four times, most recently on November 25, during which natural-gas transit was discussed but not the upcoming meeting.
A breakthrough for the Normandy talks to happen came on October 1, when Kyiv and Moscow agreed that Ukrainian and Russian-backed forces would withdraw from three frontline flashpoints in eastern Ukraine.
However, Zelenskiy said in Vilnius he had no illusions that the war would immediately end the next day after the Paris talks. "But as president of Ukraine, I want a clear understanding [of] when and how we can stop this war," he said.
Ukraine and its Western backers accuse Moscow of leading, commanding, equipping, fighting beside, and training the separatist forces in the Donbas.
Russia, which annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014, denies direct military involvement and has insisted that the Donbas conflict is purely a civil war. (w/AFP, Kommersant, and Interfax)
Lviv mayor to appeal bail ruling in abuse-of-office case:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court on November 27 set bail at $44,000 for Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadoviy, who is accused of abusing his office in a case involving construction of an industrial park, dispossessing land, and causing nearly $4 million in damages to the state.
If found guilty of abuse of office, he could be imprisoned for up to six years.
Sadoviy has five days to post bail and said he will appeal the ruling.
Prosecutors, who had asked for the bail amount to be nearly 50 times more, said they’ll also appeal.
The case originates from 2015, when Dutch developer CTP won rights from the city to build an industrial park on 23 hectares of land located on the outskirts of Lviv.
Sadoviy said Lviv, western Ukraine's largest city, with a population of approximately 800,000 people, received the equivalent today of $2.25 million for the land.
However, the mayor said from the outset there was resistance toward the project from the state government and prosecutor's office.
Prosecutors allege that the land allotted for the project belonged to a neighboring village, not the city, and was zoned as agricultural, not industrial.
They allege Sadoviy, along with several city-council members, misappropriated the land in Lviv's favor although the city in 2017 signed a memorandum with the village to resolve the land dispute.
"The charges are pointless, the [city] budget received 52 million hryvnyas, what are the losses of 92 million hryvnyas? The budget was filled, taxes are being paid. Investments will be attracted," Sadovyi said in Kyiv after the bail hearing.
Suspected "godfather of contraband" arrested:
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
The man whom Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called one of the "godfathers of contraband" has been arrested on suspicion of heading an organized crime group that illegally imported goods into the country.
Odesa businessman Vadym Alperin was detained on November 27 when he voluntarily appeared for questioning at the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP).
He faces up to 12 years in prison if found guilty on charges of forming an organized crime group, tax evasion, and abuse of office.
Zelenskiy the previous day said the suspect evaded capture during a sting operation in which seven employees of the state customs service and three businessmen were detained on corruption and contraband charges.
Detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau say Alperin in November 2017 offered the agency a $800,000 bribe if they would unfreeze about $19 million that belonged to two dozen firms he owns and close the case.
He was arrested on November 30, 2017 for two months with the possibility of posting bail at $880,000. A month later, an appellate court decreased bail to less than $6,000 after which Alperin was released.
Authorities in January 2018 said they had uncovered a smuggling scheme allegedly led by Alperin that bilked the state of more than $29 million. The importers avoided paying customs duties because the declared worth of goods was grossly undervalued.
A September 2013 report on Russian and Ukrainian facilitators of weapons transfers, The Odessa Network, said Alperin was a well-known arms broker and "prominent" businessman in Odesa.
"Alperin also is a former Party of Regions deputy in the Odessa city council, and owns many other businesses in real estate, transportation, and cargo brokering," the report stated.
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.