At the bottom of Andriyivskiy Descent, a picturesque Kyiv old-town street, 78-year-old Raisa sells hand-embroidered handkerchiefs. Raisa sends all the money she makes to the front lines -- about 1,000 hryvnyas at a time (a little less than $50).
The most expensive handkerchief she sells is made out of silk, and costs 33 hryvnyas or $1.50. She says, the price won't be raised, and even if "a dollar costs 50 hryvnyas" she'll keep it the same price.
It takes Raisa about four days to embroider one handkerchief. She is blind in one eye, and she says that her hands "don't always follow her commands."
Raisa was born in Belarusian Mohylev, before living in Grozny, and then Moscow, where she attended a university. She doesn't have fond memories. "I learnt what Russia was back in Moscow, when I studied in the university. There was such hatred, contempt," she says.
Raisa promises to sell her handkerchiefs at the same spot for as long as she can.
-- Anna Shamanska
Ukraine claims gains, separatists say no change:
A separatist attack on Ukrainian forces in Starohnativka, Donetsk Oblast, resulted into Ukraine gaining 2-3 kilometers of separatist-controlled territory, according to Ukraine's Defense Ministry.
Around 3:25 a.m. local time, one battalion of separatist forces, with the help of 10 tanks and 10 infantry fighting vehicles, attacked a stronghold of the Ukrainian Army close to Starohnativka, the ministry said.
Seven Ukrainians were injured, and the separatists "suffered significant losses."
At the same time, a representative of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic defense ministry, Eduard Basurin, claimed that Starohnativka had been under Ukrainian control the entire time.
"[The Ukrainian side] says that the militia attacked, but as a result they took hold of some key points themselves. This is false information to accuse us of violating the Minsk agreements," Basurin said.
-- Anna Shamanska
Summary of the conflicting claims from our news desk:
One Ukrainian soldier has been killed and nine injured in the latest clashes between Ukrainian armed forces and Russia-backed separatists in the Donetsk region, a Ukrainian military official says.
Vladyslav Seleznyov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff, said on August 10 that Ukrainian forces had managed to maintain control over the town of Starohnativka after a separatist attack.
Starohnativka is located about halfway between separatist-held Donetsk and Kyiv-controlled Mariupol.
Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, told reporters in Kyiv that up to 400 separatists supported by 10 tanks and 10 armored personnel carriers and other vehicles attacked Ukrainian positions overnight.
According to Lysenko, "the enemy suffered significant losses in personnel and equipment."
Meanwhile, the de facto defense minister of the separatist Donetsk People Republic, Eduard Basurin, says forces under his command stopped an attempt by Ukrainian forces to advance in the same area on August 10.
According to Basurin, Ukrainian forces lost two tanks, one armored personnel carrier, and a military truck with a missile on it.
More than 6,500 people have been killed in the military conflict between Ukrainian armed forces and pro-Russia separatists in parts of Ukraine's eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk since April 2014.
A fragile cease-fire was negotiated in Minsk in February, but it is marred by daily violations. (UNIAN, Interfax)
Last week, Odesa Governor Mikheil Saakashvili caused a firestorm after posting a photo with old-school Russian rock star Boris Grebenshchikov.
Now he's published a video.
In the video, Grebenshchikov and Nino Katamadze, a Georgian jazz singer, sit at a table with about 20 more people drinking red and sparkling wine.
Grebenshchikov, playing an acoustic guitar, is soon joined in song by Katamadze.
In Russia, reaction to the impromptu jam session in Odesa was met with similar incredulity by Kremlin supporters. Russian political scientist Sergey Markov told Regnum information agency that the charm of “Kyiv junta war crimes” and Saakashvili had seized Grebenshchikov.
-- Anna Shamanska
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has ordered Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin to hold “urgent consultations” with the foreign ministries involved in the Normandy talks (Russia, Germany, France) due to the escalation of fighting in Donbas.
Earlier today, the press center of Ukraine's Anti-Terrorist Operation stated that Ukrainian positions in the east have experienced the most intense shelling in weeks.
Another angle:
More from our news desk on the fighting today:
One Ukrainian soldier was killed and nine injured in the latest clashes between Ukrainian armed forces and Russia-backed separatists in the Donetsk region, a Ukrainian military official says.
Vladyslav Seleznyov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Armed Forces General Staff, said on August 10 that Ukrainian forces had managed to maintain control over the town of Starohnativka after a separatist attack.
Starohnativka is located about half way between separatist-held Donetsk and Kyiv-controlled Mariupol.
Mariupol sits along a key route linking parts of eastern Ukraine controlled by the rebels and Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March, 2014.
Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, told reporters in Kyiv that up to 400 separatists supported by 10 tanks and 10 armored personnel carriers and other vehicles attacked Ukrainian positions overnight.
According to Lysenko, "the enemy suffered significant losses in personnel and equipment."
Lysenko described shelling by pro-Russian separatists in the past 24 hours as the heaviest since a battle for the town of Debaltseve in February.
Meanwhile, the de facto defense minister of the separatist Donetsk People's Republic, Eduard Basurin, says forces under his command stopped an attempt by Ukrainian forces to advance in the same area on August 10.
According to Basurin, Ukrainian forces lost two tanks, one armored personnel carrier, and a military truck with a missile on it.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko also announced that “about 200 insurgents” had staged a pre-dawn raid on Novolaspa, a village near the town of Starohnativka.
According to the presidency, Viktor Muzhenko, the chief of staff of the Ukrainian military, "informed the president that the Ukrainian forces gave a fitting rebuff and repelled all the attacks."
However, the Defense Ministry later reported the separatists were mounting a second attack on the same village, where the outcome was not immediately clear.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said the clashes were “a dangerous indication of a further escalation to come.”
The rebels said Novolaspa had always been one of their frontline outposts and said the claims by Kyiv made no sense.
The pro-Russian separatists accused Kyiv of trying to gain back territory it lost in fighting.
More than 6,400 people have been killed in the military conflict between Ukrainian armed forces and pro-Russia separatists in parts of Ukraine's eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk since April, 2014.
A fragile cease-fire was negotiated in Minsk in February, but it is marred by daily violations.