Ukraine has become the new home for a former Georgian police officer, who is fighting against pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk region. Now a Ukrainian citizen, the soldier, who goes by the nickname "Doberman," compares the events in eastern Ukraine to Moscow's support for Georgia's breakaway region of Abkhazia. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
LATEST from our new desk on the fighting in eastern Ukraine:
Shelling of the rebel-held eastern Ukrainian city of Horlivka has killed five people, local officials say.
City officials said another 10 people were injured when a shell exploded near a bus stop earlier on August 7.
Part of the city was without electricity and water after infrastructure was damaged in the shelling.
Horlivka is about 35 kilometers north of Donetsk, one of the two big remaining strongholds of pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
Earlier on August 7, Donetsk city authorities said three people were killed and five injured in overnight shelling as government forces continued their offensive against the separatists.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian media reported the self-styled prime minister of the separatists' self-declared Donetsk's People's Republic announced he was quitting his post.
Aleksandr Borodai has reportedly left Donetsk. (UNIAN, Interfax)
LATEST from our news desk on NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen's Kyiv visit:
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen is holding talks with Ukrainian leaders in Kyiv, amid heightened tensions over a Russian troop buildup along the Ukrainian border.
Rasmussen has met with Prime Minister Arseniy Yartsenyuk and parliament speaker Oleksandr Turchynov, and is also due to meet President Petro Poroshenko.
Here is today's map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine according to the National Security and Defense Council:
As promised, here's the latest RFE/RL Ukrainian Service video from Independence Square in Kyiv, where demonstrators clashed with city employees and armed guards today as workers tried to clear Euromaidan barricades and tents. Protesters set fire to piles of tires and threw bottles and bricks at the municipal workers, who eventually withdrew.
LATEST from our news desk, via our Moldovan Service:
Pro-Russian separatists in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniester have reportedly put their security forces on alert because of what they say is a military threat from Ukraine and Moldova.
Transdniester's Tiras news agency said on August 7 that separatists expected unspecified military activity starting from August 26, the day before Moldova's independence day.
Moldovan authorities in response accused separatists of misinforming the public.
Tensions between Moldova and Transdniester have been on the rise since Moldova signed an Association Agreement in June with the European Union despite Russian opposition.
Moldova has asked Russia to withdraw its 1,500 troops stationed in Transdniester.
Ukraine has dug a ditch along the border with the separatist region fearing Russian troops stationed there may invade.
Transdniester declared independence from Moldova in 1990. The two sides fought a brief war in 1992 that ended when the Russian military intervened on the side of Transdniester. (With additional reporting by AP)
The Ukrainian Security Service now says the pro-Russian separatists shot down MH17 by mistake. They actually meant to shoot down a Russian plane, so that Moscow would have an excuse to invade....