From our news desk:
Ukraine's military says pro-Russian separatists have shot down a Ukrainian military jet.
Military spokesman Vladislav Seleznyov said the plane crashed some 40 kilometers northeast of the city of Donetsk, the main separatist stronghold.
He said the pilot had ejected safely after he managed to steer the plane away from a residential area. A search-and-rescue mission is currently under way for the pilot.
The Ukrainian military has lost a string of aircraft during four months of fighting against pro-Russian rebels in the east.
Last month, a Malaysian airliner was shot down over rebel-held territory, allegedly by the separatists, killing 298 people.
The head of the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU), Valentin Nalivaychenko, on August 7 said the separatists had wanted to bring down a Russian airliner to create a pretext for a Russian invastion. (UNIAN, AFP)
The latest report by the OSCE's monitoring team in eastern Ukraine:
LATEST from our news desk on NATO chief's visit to Kyiv:
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on August 7 vowed support for Ukraine in the face of Russian "aggression" and called on Moscow to pull back its troops from the border.
Rasmussen, speaking on a visit to Kyiv, called on Russia "to step back from the brink, step back from the border and not use peacekeeping as an excuse for war-making."
He said that Russia, instead of deescalating the conflict, continues to destabilize Ukraine, and that its support for pro-Russian separatists fighting government forces in the east grows "in scale and sophistication."
NATO said on August 6 that a Russian forces buildup near the Ukrainian border amounts to some 20,000 troops.
The alliance said Moscow could use the excuse of a humanitarian or peacekeeping mission to send them into Ukraine. (with Reuters, AFP)