Good morning. We'll get the live blog started today with a couple of news stories that were posted by RFE/RL's news desk posted overnight:
Ukraine's Lviv Tank Plant Starts Making Upgraded T-64 Tanks
The Lviv Tank Plant has become the second Ukrainian factory to start manufacturing the modernized model of T-64 tanks complete with new thermal vision equipment, digital radio communication, satellite navigation systems, and new explosive-reactive armor, according to an August 12 news release by Ukroboronprom, the state-owned company that oversees the defense industry.
“As a result, we’ve managed to significantly expand its combat capabilities,” Ukroboronprom said.
The T-64 tank is the Ukrainian military’s main combat vehicle. The latest model was modernized in 2017.
During the upgrade, a new sighting gun complex was installed that allows it to detect, recognize, and destroy a target by firing a 125-millimeter cannon any time of the day and in all weather conditions.
Before, only the Kharkiv Armored Plant, also a part of Ukroboronprom, made the modernized T-64 tanks. It has supplied nearly 150 tanks to the military.
Ukraine has been fighting Russian-backed separatists in the two easternmost regions of the country since 2014 in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people.
Ukraine's New Parliament To Be Sworn In On August 29
Ukraine's new parliament will get sworn in on August 29, Kyiv-based Dragon Capital investment bank wrote in a note to investors, citing the national legislature’s website.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to deliver his first state of the nation speech to the 424 elected lawmakers that day. As required by law, the president addresses parliament after it appoints the speaker and two deputy speakers.
A plenary session will be held on the same day as well.
Since Zelenskiy’s Servant of the People party won an outright majority of 254 seats on July 21, no delays are expected regarding the formation of a new Cabinet of Ministers.
A new government will likely be formed by the first week of September, Dragon Capital said.
This will be Ukraine’s ninth parliamentary convocation.
Twenty-six seats are still vacant because those mandates are in Russia-annexed Crimea and parts of the easternmost regions of Luhansk and Donetsk, which are controlled by Kremlin-backed separatists.
Half the parliamentary seats get distributed proportionally based on party lists and the other half in single-mandate election districts based on simple-majority voting.
This ends our live blogging for August 12. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (click to enlarge):
