Beginning today, if you want local mobile-phone service in major swaths of Crimea, you've got to get it through a Russian operator, reports RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service.
Reuters caught up with a disenchanted separatist in eastern Ukraine. Here's an excerpt:
Wearing a camouflage uniform and touting a Kalashnikov rifle, Aleksander told Reuters there was in fact "no political leadership" left in the separatist movement after locals, including the "people's governor" of Donetsk Pavel Gubarev, were pushed aside by Russians.
He was speaking in Donetsk, the largest city in the hands of the rebels where they have vowed to make a stand against government forces. Security officials in Kiev say their troops are preparing to "storm" the city.
Tensions among the rebels have been growing since government troops pushed them out of Slaviansk, a former bastion of resistance, on July 4-5.
Locals including Gubarev have been increasingly sidelined from decision-making or dismissed since then and more Russians have joined the fray - a response to slow but steady progress made by the Ukrainian army and volunteer battalions on the ground.
Our news desk has clarified the UN Ukrainian refugees number as coming from Russian estimates:
The UN refugee agency says at least 285,000 people have fled their homes because of the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
UNHCR's European director Vincent Cochetel said local Ukrainian authorities had so far registered some 117,000 people leaving the east for other regions of Ukraine.
Cochetel told reporters in Geneva that the number "is in our view a low estimate," since most men fleeing failed to register to avoid being drafted into the Ukrainian Army and sent back to the conflict zone.
Cochetel said that, in addition, around 168,000 Ukrainians had as of August 1 applied to Russian authorities for asylum, refugee, and other kinds of protective status such as temporary residence permits.
The total of at least 285,000 displaced people marks a 24 percent jump from figures provided by the UNHCR last month.
Cochetel said that, according to Russian authorities, some 730,000 Ukrainians have gone to Russia since January under the country's visa-free regime, without registering.
Cochetel said, "we believe that number is credible." (with additional reporting by AFP and Reuters)
Our own Robert Coalson is pretty popular among some in Russia...:
From our news desk:
The UN refugee agency says 730,000 people have fled Ukraine for Russia during 2014 due to fighting in eastern Ukraine.
UNHCR's European director Vincent Cochetel said the UNHCR arrived at its estimate after deducting the number of people who would normally have crossed the border for trade or tourism.
Cochetel, speaking on August 5 in Geneva, said the figure includes 168,000 people who have fled Ukraine and applied to Russia's Migration Service.
Cochetel said a further 117,000 people are internally displaced in Ukraine, a number that is growing by about 1,200 per day.
Ukrainian government troops reportedly seized a separatist checkpoint on August 5 on the outskirts of Donetsk.
In Kyiv, defense officials said separatists opened fire on unarmed Ukrainian soldiers on August 5 as they returned to Ukraine from Russia where they briefly took shelter from fighting. (Reuters and ITAR-TASS)
From our news desk, more sanctions on Russia:
Switzerland has extended its sanctions over Ukraine's crisis by adding 26 more Russians and pro-Russian Ukrainians to the list.
Switzerland's Federal Department of Economic Affairs, Education and Research said on August 5 that the move was made because of Moscow's continued role in the ongoing Ukraine crisis.
The new additions to Switzerland's sanctions list mirror the names on a European Union blacklist last month and comes into effect as of August 5, at 6 p.m. local time.
The lists now include a total of 20 companies and 87 individuals -- such as the head of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), Aleksandr Bortnikov, Intelligence Service chief Mikhail Fradkov, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, deputy head of the Security Council Rashid Nurgaliyev, and others.
The listed individuals and companies are banned from travelling to Switzerland or from transfering any assets from outside the EU to Swiss banks. (Interfax and ITAR-TASS)