Here is today's map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
U.S. to start training Ukrainian Army troops:
The United States will begin training Ukrainian Army troops this fall in an expansion of its military involvement in the divided country, the State Department has said.
U.S. troops have already deployed in small numbers to Ukraine to train National Guard forces, but under the new plan would also take on regular military units.
This will bring the total cost of a security assistance package for the embattled country -- locked in a conflict with pro-Russian separatists -- to $244 million since 2014.
But a spokesman said the training would take place in the west of the country, far from the front line in the rebellious east, and did not mark a major change in U.S. strategy.
"This is going to be small unit training...to help strengthen Ukraine's internal defense capabilities," Mark Toner said. "This training is part of our long-running defense cooperation with Ukraine."
Toner said the United States would not be providing new equipment or new weaponry. "Our focus is on...nonlethal aid. And there is no plan to change that." (AFP, Reuters, AP)
Russia set to veto UN tribunal on MH17:
The United Nations Security Council will vote on July 29 on creating an international tribunal to prosecute those suspected of downing a passenger airliner last year in Ukraine, but Russia is expected to block the move, diplomats have said.
The proposal was offered by Malaysia, Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin views the proposal as premature and counterproductive, and Russia has offered a rival resolution that demands justice but does not establish a tribunal.
Russia has veto power in the Security Council and can block what Russian UN Ambassador Vitaly Churkin described as an attempt to organize a "grandiose, political show."
Several council diplomats said they expected Russia to exercise its veto.
"It is very unlikely that we will find a common ground" between the Russian and Malaysian proposals, said one diplomat.
All 298 passengers on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 were killed when it was shot down in July 2014 in Ukrainian territory held by Russian-backed separatists.
Ukraine and Western countries say the rebels shot the plane down with a Russian-made missile, but Moscow denies the accusations. (Reuters, AFP, TASS)
Biden: U.S. welcomes Ukrainian demilitarized-zone proposal:
U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has welcomed Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko's proposal to create a 30-kilometer demilitarized zone along the line of contact in eastern Ukraine, the White House said.
The zone would be free of tanks, artillery, and mortar systems and would be under the control of the OSCE, "which should secure a real cease-fire," Poroshenko's office said.
Biden and Poroshenko, who spoke by telephone on July 24, agreed that Russia and Russian-backed separatists had still failed to implement the Minsk agreement calling for a cease-fire and the removal of heavy weapons from the line of contact, the White House said.
The leaders also talked about Ukraine's efforts to combat corruption, Ukrainian-U.S. military and technological cooperation, and the urgency of seeking justice in the crash of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down over Ukraine a year ago.
The two leaders discussed the prospects for setting up an international tribunal at the UN to prosecute those responsible for downing the jetliner.
The UN Security Council is expected to vote on the proposal on July 29. (Reuters, AP, Interfax)
Barring any major development, that ends the live blogging for tonight.
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This is the problem in Ukraine, according to Russia's state-controlled Sputnik:
More from our news desk on the Ukraine Communist election ban:
Ukraine's Justice Ministry has barred communists from running in upcoming local elections after the passage of new legislation.
Justice Minister Pavlo Petrenko said on July 24 that the Communist Party of Ukraine, the Communist Party of Ukraine's Workers and Peasants, and the Reformed Communist Party of Ukraine will be barred from the October local elections.
Petrenko also pledged to file a lawsuit to formally ban the parties.
The Communist Party has been an important force in Ukrainian politics, polling 13 percent in the 2012 parliamentary elections, but its popularity plummeted following its support for pro-Russian ex-President Viktor Yanukovych, who was toppled by pro-European protests last year and is currently residing in Russia.
In the 2014 parliamentary election, the Communist Party of Ukraine garnered less than 4 percent of the vote.
In 2000, the Communist Party of Ukraine split and two new communist parties were formed -- the Reformed Communist Party of Ukraine (also known as the Communist Party of Ukraine Renewed) and the Ukrainian Communist Party of Workers and Peasants. The two new communist parties did not take part in parliamentary elections in 2012 and 2014.
Ukraine passed several laws in April banning the use of symbols from the Soviet era and denouncing communist ideology. Under those laws, the communist government that ruled between 1917 and 1991 -- the Soviet era -- was condemned as a criminal regime that conducted policies of state terror.
Its symbols and propaganda were banned -- a measure that, if implemented thoroughly, would require the demolition of remaining monuments to Bolshevik Revolution leader Vladimir Lenin and other Soviet-era images.
Ukraine applies the same treatment to the Nazi regime, which occupied and controlled much of Ukrainian territory during World War II before being driven out by Soviet forces.
Also in April, Ukrainian lawmakers adopted a law that defined the legal status and honored the memory of participants in the struggle for Ukraine's independence in the 20th century, including groups that fought against Nazi Germany and Soviet authorities.
Communist Party of Ukraine leader Petro Symonenko said on July 24 that his party planned to take part in the election despite the ministry's decision.
The leader of the Russian Communist Party, Gennady Zyuganov, called the decision "pure arbitrariness and a reprisal against their political opponents."