This ends our live blogging for August 22. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Anti-vaxxers demand schools let their children in:
By RFE/RL
About 200 parents who oppose vaccination have gathered in the center of the Ukrainian capital to demand that their children be allowed to attend school without booster shots.
The rally was held outside the presidential office in Kyiv on August 22, with some protesters holding banners that read "Forced medical intervention is a crime."
Ukraine is experiencing its worst measles outbreak since gaining independence in 1991, having recorded more than 57,000 cases since January. Eighteen deaths have been attributed to the disease so far this year.
This prompted Health Minister Ulana Suprun and Education Minister Lilia Hrynevych to jointly threaten on August 14 not to let unvaccinated children attend school this year.
Authorities and health experts blame ignorance among certain doctors, distrust of vaccines among a segment of the population, as well as earlier shortages of vaccines, for the current outbreak.
Suprun has promoted a vaccine drive in areas most affected by the crisis and at a mid-month briefing she said the ministry had enough vaccines for children and adults.
Ukraine has one of the lowest vaccination rates in Europe, which could lead to outbreaks of diphtheria and tetanus as well, according to Suprun.
Measles is a preventable but highly contagious disease that can kill a child or leave it disabled for life.
Worldwide cases over the first six months of 2019 are at the highest level since 2006 -- substantially a result of uneven availability and misleading information regarding vaccinations, the World Health Organization said in a report published on August 13.
Measles cases tripled to 365,000 in the first seven months of the year compared to the same period in 2018.
But health experts worldwide have expressed concerns about the so-called "anti-vax" movement spreading on social media and elsewhere that has raised fears among some parents that vaccinations can be harmful for children.
An October 2018 report published by the American Journal of Public health concluded that bots and Russian trolls "amplified" the vaccine debate during the period 2014-2017.
"Whereas bots that spread malware and unsolicited content disseminated antivaccine messages, Russian trolls promoted discord," the report said. "Accounts masquerading as legitimate users create false equivalency, eroding public consensus on vaccination." (w/UNIAN, Interfax, and AFP)
Ukraine, Russia reportedly preparing to exchange dozens of prisoners:
By RFE/RL's Russian Service
Kyiv and Moscow are reportedly preparing a prisoner exchange that would see each side swapping 33 detainees, possibly including Ukrainian sailors captured by Russian forces late last year.
RBK media group, citing unnamed sources in Russia late on August 22, said the swap of 33 Ukrainian citizens held in Russia for 33 Russian citizens held in Ukraine could occur soon.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed to RBK that Moscow and Kyiv were negotiating a prisoner exchange, but he did not elaborate.
One of the sources told RBK that Russian journalist Kirill Vyshinsky, who used to be a Ukrainian citizen and is being held in Ukraine on high-treason charges of high, was not included in the exchange because Moscow wants his outright release.
It is also not clear if Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov would be among the individuals set for exchange. Sentsov, who openly protested Russia's illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014, is serving 20-year prison term in Russia on terrorism charges, which he and his supporters have rejected.
The sources told RBK that Ukrainian Ombudswoman Lyudmyla Denisova is in Moscow to work on the exchange, while her Russian counterpart, Tatyana Moskalkova, is on vacation until August 26.
Also on August 22, Russian lawyer Valentin Rybin told the TASS news agency that his three clients being held in Ukraine -- Russian citizens Maksim Odintsov, Aleksandr Baranov, and Yevgeny Mefyodov -- were going through judicial procedures in preparation for the exchange "in the nearest future."
On August 21, the Kommersant newspaper quoted sources close to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy as saying that the exchange could take place by the end of August and among the Ukrainians set to be transferred to Kyiv could be 24 Ukrainian sailors detained by Russian forces in November near the Kerch Strait close to Russia-annexed Crimea.
The Moscow-based Memorial human rights center said this week that five Ukrainians held in Russia -- Volodymyr Balukh, Stanislav Klykh, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Pavlo Hryb, and Mykola Karpyuk -- had been transferred from labor camps in several different regions to the Lefortovo detention center in Moscow, possibly in advance of an exchange.
Kyiv has said that Russia illegally holds about 150 Ukrainian nationals on its territory. Ukrainian officials mentioned that figure when talking about the list of prisoners prepared for possible exchange by the two countries' ombudswomen in July.
The list of Russian citizens set for the swap has never been made public.
The United States and European Union have called on Russia to free dozens of Ukrainian citizens imprisoned in Russia, Moscow-annexed Crimea, and parts of eastern Ukraine that are controlled by Russia-backed separatists.
Russia seized control of Ukraine's Crimea region in March 2014, after sending in troops and staging a referendum dismissed as illegal by at least 100 countries. Moscow is also backing separatists in a war against Ukrainian government forces that has killed more than 13,000 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014. (w/RBK, Interfax and Kommersant)