Ukraine's prime minister viewing the glass half full:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's official website says European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso "supported an initiative by the President of Ukraine to invite the EU to participate in the high-level meetings" in Minsk between Ukraine and the Customs Unioon's "Eurasian Troika" of Russia, Kazakhstan, and Belarus on August 26. They are reportedly expected to discuss issues related to Ukraine's EU association agreement, energy security, and stabilization of the Donbas region.
Interfax quoted the Belarusian Foreign Ministry confirming that it plans to host the gathering.
Mystery solved! From Reuters:
UKRAINE INTERIOR MINISTRY ADVISER SAYS REBEL COMMANDER SEIZED WAS SEMYON KHODAKOVSKY, A JUNIOR COMMANDER, AND NOT ALEXANDER KHODAKOVSKY WHO HEADS THE REBEL UNIT, VOSTOK BATTALION
Still questions about which Khodakovsky, but...
BREAKING: Reuters quotes a Ukrainian Interior Ministry spokesman as saying "key" separatist commander "Khodakovsky" has been detained by Ukrainian forces. There are suggestions it is not the Donetsk "Aleksandr Khodakovsky." [Turns out it's Semyon Khodakovsky, a "junior commander," Reuters says.]
Lots of reports from Donetsk of shelling in around the city today. This said to be shell falling in centre: http://t.co/MeR54qK4G1
— Tom Parfitt (@parfitt_tom) August 19, 2014
Natalia Antonova has written a thought-provoking op-ed piece for "The Moscow Times" on the plight of civilians living in the Ukraine conflict zone, who have often been overlooked of late:
..[D]espite the pain of Kiev's residents, civilians in eastern Ukraine have emerged as the most vulnerable parties in the entire horrid mess that is the Ukraine crisis so far.
It is sad and telling that the new Ukrainian government was said to have put together an aid convoy for the Donbass region only after the Russians had done the same. It makes Kiev's move seem like a PR stunt and brings home the fact that civilians in eastern Ukraine have apparently been largely off-the-radar as far as the authorities are concerned.
The bickering over the convoy drives home the point, though, that what we're seeing in Ukraine right now is not just a local conflict involving some international players. It is also a vicious cycle being simultaneously experienced by two societies — both Russian and Ukrainian — that are growing inured to the idea of destruction and death on their doorstep.
And the less sympathy and support that eastern residents get from Kiev, the less they are going to care about the whole notion of a sovereign Ukraine.
Read the entire article here
Kiev has dropped significantly in the Economist Intelligence Unit's livability survey - http://t.co/Y47Y10qfgT
— Nikolaus von Twickel (@niktwick) August 19, 2014
In Russian Far East officials plan to harvest local reindeer to replace US meat imports, @MoscowTimes reports. Gulp http://t.co/zA46p3pfFh
— Courtney Weaver (@courtneymoscow) August 19, 2014