Here is a map of the latest military situation in the Donbas region -- courtesy of Ukraine's Defense Ministry (click image to enlarge):
The United States' ambassador to Ukraine has been briefing journalists in Kyiv today. Our news desk has this report:
The United States says Russia "continues to fuel the conflict" in Ukraine despite a cease-fire agreement signed in February in Minsk.
The U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt, said during a July 28 briefing in Kyiv with journalists that Russia's actions in Ukraine have been "unpredictable and irresponsible."
He said: "I would underline the stakes for what is happening here. Our principles and shared trans-Atlantic values are at stake in the conflict under way today in Ukraine. The cardinal principle of respect for international borders and territorial integrity has been jeopardized. Ukraine is the front line of freedom in Europe."
Pyatt urged Russia and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine to implement the Minsk agreements, including the withdrawal of Russian troops and equipment from Ukrainian territory; the release of all "hostages," including Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko; and the restoration of Ukrainian control over all its international borders.
Pyatt conducted the briefing together with the European Union's ambassador to Ukraine, Jan Tombinski.
Russia continues to deny that its military is involved in Ukraine's conflict.
Pyatt said developments on the ground in eastern Ukraine suggest "the Kremlin and its proxies are maintaining the capability to continue seeking to grab territory at a time and place of the Kremlin's choosing."
"Russian drones are operating over Ukrainian territory every single day," Pyatt said. "Russian-crewed surface-to-air missile systems are operating on Ukrainian territory."
He noted that Ukrainian forces on July 26 reported they had detained a Russian military officer driving a truck loaded with ammunition some 45 kilometers southwest of Donetsk.
The ambassador also rejected the notion of any quid pro quo with Moscow on Ukraine in exchange for Russia's recent support for a landmark international agreement to restrict Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions against Tehran.
Pyatt said Russia supported the Iran agreement out of "its own self-interest."
"In Ukraine, we continue to have profound differences over Russia's continued violation of Ukraine's territorial integrity," Pyatt said. "And under no circumstances are we going to dilute those concerns in furtherance of some unrelated policy issue."
Pyatt also praised the Ukrainian government's reform efforts, describing them as "a second war" that Kyiv is fighting. He said the government has made progress on police reform, energy-sector reform, anticorruption measures, and military reform, despite having to simultaneously counter "Russian aggression" since the "invasion of Crimea" in the spring of 2014.
OSCE makes fresh appeal after staffer wounded. (From our news desk.)
The OSCE's special mission to Ukraine on July 28 made a fresh appeal to all sides in the military conflict in eastern Ukraine to guarantee safe conditions for its monitors after one of its officers was wounded during an exchange of fire.
Alexander Hug, the deputy head of the Organization for Security and Cooperation mission, said the OSCE monitors have “come under fire countless times... despite the fact that all sides know about our presence.”
The mission said in a report that a patrol leader from the monitoring mission was struck on July 27 by concrete debris caused by an explosion which hit the mission's car near Shyrokyne, a small town near the strategic port of Mariupol.
The OSCE’s unarmed civilian observers are monitoring the implementation of a cease-fire deal reached in February in Minsk between Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists.
Reuters piece on Ukraine's IDP crisis
Ukraine is facing a "hidden emergency" because of the government's failure to plan for nearly 1.4 million people uprooted by the war in the east, which has left many struggling to find shelter, charities say.
They accused the government of breaking its promise to provide housing for people displaced by the conflict and urged it to ramp up efforts to help them.
Latest on Savchenko. Her trial starts on July 30:
The lawyers of jailed Ukrainian pilot and parliament member Nadia Savchenko said on July 28 that they have proof she was already captive when the two Russian journalists she is accused of killing died in shelling.
Savchenko is accused of direct participation in the killing of two Russian reporters who died last year while covering the conflict in Ukraine as well as charged with attempted murder and illegally entering Russian territory.
Preliminary hearings are scheduled for July 30 in Russia's Rostov region.
Savchenko’s lawyer Ilya Novikov said at a news conference in Kyiv that he had phone billing data that shows she was already the prisoner for pro-Russian separatists when the journalists were killed.
However, he expressed doubt about the fairness of her trial.
Savchenko says she was illegally brought into Russia after being abducted by Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine.