Poroshenko Vows To Raise Troop Numbers
Thousands of servicemen have marched in central Kyiv to mark Ukraine's Independence Day.
Speaking at the parade on August 24, President Petro Poroshenko said Ukraine would continue to increase its troop numbers in order to fend off attacks by Russia-backed separatists in the east.
The conflict there has claimed more than 6,800 lives since it began in April 2014.
A cease-fire agreement reached in Minsk in February has been regularly violated, with a spike in violence reported in eastern Ukraine last week.
Poroshenko is expected to discuss the Minsk agreement when he meets German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande later on August 24 in Berlin.
At the parade, Poroshenko also accused Moscow of sending three military convoys into rebel-held areas in the east just in the past days.
Kyiv and Western governments, which have imposed sanctions on Russia, say there is irrefutable evidence of Russian involvement in the separatist resistance.
Moscow denies it is providing men or arms.
Based on reporting by Interfax, TASS, and AP
A Ukrainian radio station has published a video of some 20 Ukrainian activists, artists, and diplomats singing the Ukrainian anthem, Ukraine Has Not Yet Died.
The clip is meant to mark the country's 24th anniversary of independence, which is being celebrated today.
Among those congratulating Kyiv are Great Britain’s ambassador to Ukraine, Simon Smith; Canadian Ambassador Roman Waschuk; Georgian actor Dimitri Alavidze; VOA TV host Myroslava Gongadze; and Crimean Tatar singer Jamala.
Pavel Kanygin, a journalist with Novaya Gazeta, an independent Russian newspaper, has published an investigation into how separatist leaders in Donbas are making money.
According to the journalist, Aleksandr Zakharchenko, the leader of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic, took over a chain of Ukrainian supermarkets called ATB. The chain has 152 stores on the territory, which is now controlled by the separatists.
“At the end of 2014, the chain began to close its supermarkets [because it could not] ensure staff safety. Soon after, some shops were taken over by people who called themselves 'DPR officials.' A number of the shops continue to work under the same name, ATB, but 20 supermarkets were renamed First Republican Supermarket," writes Kanygin.
The ATB management claims that Zakharchenko’s wife, Natalia, is in control of the stores.
The second most powerful person in the DPR, Aleksandr Khodakovsky, makes money thanks to smuggling goods from Ukraine, writes Kanygin. He is in charge of around 1,000 to 2,000 Vostok battalion fighters, who control the western borders of the occupied territory.
“Some said that former richest Ukrainian, Rinat Akhmetov, sponsored Vostok in return for the support of his initiatives. Either way, Khodakovskyy’s fighters still protect the billionaire’s companies and 'Donbas Arena' stadium,” writes Kanygin.
A new monument to a Russian-speaking bullfinch was officially unveiled in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhia today.
“This monument symbolizes a tortured Russian-speaking bullfinch and the Russian world longing over it,” said Maksim Drozdenko, a local Zaporizhia citizen who initiated the idea.
The monument refers to a story from December 2014 when pro-Russian Zaporizhia activist Volodymyr Rohov, in a talk-show on Russian state channel Russia-1, said that kids in his hometown are taught to “feed blue and yellow great tits” and “hunt bullfinches, which symbolize Russia.”
Mark Feigin, the lawyer of jailed Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko, has congratulated Ukraine on its Independence Day.
“Lights of Maidan, immortal heroes of the Heavenly Hundred, soldier valor and inspired patriotism -- things for which Ukraine can be proud. Congratulations!”
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s mini-submarine dive in annexed Crimea continues to inspire Internet memes.
A screenshot from the Hollywood science-fiction movie Interstellar, where the main characters land on a planet where one hour equals seven years on Earth, was retouched with Putin's photo.
"One hour on this planet is equal to seven years on Earth."
“Great, that’s where we’ll wait for oil prices to rise,” the Russian leader says.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
