This is one of a growing number of credible sources suggesting one of the pro-Kyiv Azov Battalion troops killed in the latest fighting in eastern Ukraine was Mykola Berezovy, the husband of a fearless investigative journalist and Euromaidan campaigner, Tetyana Chornovol.
Here is an interview our Ukrainian Service did with Chornovol in February, with the anti-Yanukovych anger mounting over the kind of corruption that Chornovol was punished -- when she was brutally beaten after a car chase -- for reporting:
Ukraine's Interior Ministry announced that at least two soldiers were killed in the eastern town of Illovaisk today as fighting continued between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists.
(There are credible reports that one of the deaths was the soldier-husband of Tetyana Chornovol, a journalist who gained international notice when she was brutally beaten after publishing an article alleging high-level corruption in the Yanukovych administration.)
AP quoted Donetsk city council spokesman Maksim Rovinsky as saying one person was killed and 10 injured in shelling in the rebel-held city.
Heavy shelling was also reported from Krasnyi Luch, a city between Donetsk and the other rebel stronghold, Luhansk.
Interfax reports that the five Ukrainian soldiers at one point suspected by the Russian Investigative Committee of "war crimes" against two Ukrainian villages, and part of the several hundred troops who under unclear circumstances crossed into Russia a week ago, are back in Ukraine:
Five Ukrainian army officers who crossed over to Russian territory and were later detained returned to Ukraine last night, Interfax was told in [sic] law enforcement bodies of Rostov region on Sunday.
Yakunin is among the individuals targeted by Western sanctions and widely regarded as a close Putin confidant.
Here are comments in Kharkiv yesterday by the head of the Dutch recovery mission, Pieter Jaap Aalbersberg, on his decision to halt the recovery mission at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17.
"Especially on the Wednesday [August 6], there was rifle fire only one 150 meters off our search team. And our search team is unarmed, it cannot protect itself. That was one. Secondly, over the last days, we have been getting less access to certain areas we want to search."
"We are not taking everything back [to the Netherlands] out of Kharkiv. We will deploy a unit of about 10-14 officers here in Kharkiv with specialized equipment, so that when human remains are brought to Kharkiv, they will be directly dealt with correctly by forensic experts and also can be directly send to the Netherlands. The same [applies] for personal belongings. In the Netherlands we are prepared, whenever the situation in the crash area is safe, to be back within 24 or 48 hours with our search team and [proceed according to] our original plan."
"DNA material will stay intact for a long time, so even a later search can make a difference."
A report that a "Russian drone" active around Mariupol was shot down overnight. Also, it notes that Mariupol was cut off from Donetsk by damage to a rail line near that city.
Our Ukrainian Service notes that President Poroshenko, in a telephone conversation with U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden, invited the United States to join a possible humanitarian to eastern Ukraine. Both men reportedly agreed that no military forces should accompany the aid.