Another update from our news desk:
Putin Extends Russia's Countersanctions On Western Food
President Vladimir Putin has extended Russia's embargo on food products from the West until the end of 2018, continuing Moscow's policy of retaliation for Western sanctions against Russia for its seizure of Ukraine's Crimean peninsula and its support for pro-Russia separatists in eastern Ukraine.
A presidential decree published on June 30 states that the embargo on Western produce, dairy, meat, and most other foods has been extended until December 31, 2018.
The decree comes two days after the European Union formally extended its economic sanctions on Russia, imposed in July 2014 in response to Moscow's illegal annexation of Crimea and its role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Moscow responded in August 2014 by banning food products from the European Union, the United States, and other countries that imposed sanctions on Russia.
Both Western sanctions and Moscow's own embargo have had a negative impact on the Russian economy, prompting food price hikes.
Earlier this month, Putin said Moscow would lift the embargo once Western sanctions are lifted.
Based on reporting by AFP, Reuters, and TASS
Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry:
Aerial Video Shows Chernobyl Forest Fires
Ukrainian emergency services have released striking video shot by aircrews battling forest fires near the Chernobyl nuclear plant. Chernobyl was the site of the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster in 1986.
Here's some more on the fire near Chernobyl:
Ukrainian Firefighters Battle Forest Fire Near Chernobyl Nuclear Plant
Ukrainian firefighters are battling to contain a forest fire inside the irradiated exclusion zone around the Chernobyl nuclear plant, officials say.
The fire erupted around midday on June 29 during tree cutting works at the Lubyanskoye Forestry and spread to an area of some 25 hectares by early June 30, the emergency services said.
More than 100 firefighters and scores of trucks and aircraft were dispatched to the area, a statement said.
It is not the first wildfire to break out near the site of the 1986 reactor explosion and fire, the world's worst civilian nuclear disaster.
In 2015 alone, fires engulfed some 400 hectares of forests in the exclusion zone.