Response to cancellation of July 5 pride parade in Kyiv after police fail to guarantee protection.
This from our news desk:
-- The deputy head of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council says government forces now intend to complete a "full blockade" of the separatist strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Mykhailo Koval said on July 7 that the blockade of the two eastern cities would be aimed at forcing the pro-Russian separatists to disarm.
The separatists said any attempts at a military blockade would destroy any hopes for a political solution.
The separatists have vowed to regroup in Donetsk and Luhansk after government forces retook Slovyansk, a major rebel stronghold.
Pavel Gubarev, the self-described governor of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic, has threatened a "real partisan war around the whole perimeter of Donetsk."
On July 7, reports said three bridges on roads leading into Donetsk were destroyed by explosions, allegedly by separatists.
Russian media saying that shots still being fired in Slavyansk.
RFE's Crimea Desk is reporting that the International Civil Aviation Organization has confirmed the airspace over Crimea belongs to Ukraine.
Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Maksym Burbak announced the ruling at a Kyiv press conference today. Burbak also said the ICAO refuted allegations published in Russian media that the organization is currently holding negotiations with Moscow to switch the airspace to Russian control.
According to the ruling, responsibility for security and control of Crimean airspace remains with Ukraerorukh, the Ukrainian State Air Traffic Services Enterprise.
"Ukrainska Pravda" reports that the Verkhovna Rada committee investigating the shooting deaths of Euromaidan protesters in Kyiv on February 18-20 has concluded that the Ukrainian Interior Ministry destroyed evidence implicating ministry special forces.
In a newly published report, committee chairman Hennadiy Moskal says that on February 22 he asked newly appointed Interior Minister Arsen Avakov to provide documentation of any weapon use by members of the Sokol and Berkut special forces, as well as members of the armory department as several units of ministry troops.
Avakov reportedly promised to provide the documentation but failed to follow through.
Approximately 75 people were killed on February 18-20, most of them unarmed protesters.
Well, this was unexpected.
Dmitry Medvedev says Russia will take protective measures in trade relations with Georgia and Ukraine if their parliaments ratify their association agreements with the European Union.
Read more on Russia's pressure points in Ukraine, Georgia, and Moldova here.
Traces of the Donetsk People's Republic in Kramatorsk.
From our news desk:
-- A court in Moscow has extended the pretrial arrest of Ukrainian film director Oleh Sentsov, who was detained in Crimea and accused of plotting terrorist attacks.
The Lefortovo District Court's spokeswoman said on July 7 that Sentsov's pretrial detention had been prolonged until October 11.
Sentsov and three other Ukrainian citizens were arrested in May on suspicion of planning terrorist attacks in Crimea's major cities -- Simferopol, Yalta, and Sevastopol.
Last month, the European Film Academy, the chairman of the Ukrainian Association of Cinematographers, Serhiy Trymbach, and prominent Russian film director Nikita Mikhalkov urged Russian President Vladimir Putin to assist in Sentsov's release.
Interfax-Ukraine reporting that members of Ukrainian National Guard have discovered caches of ammunition for Russian-made sniper rifles in Slovyansk.