The sister of Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko says Nadiya is still being held hostage in eastern Ukraine nearly three weeks after being captured by pro-Russian separatists from the Luhansk People's Republic.
Vera Savchenko told RFE's Ukrainian Service that she traveled personally to Luhansk to look for her sister, but said she was detained outside the regional administration building after she was forced to show her Kyiv-based registration papers.
"I was interrogated by people who said themselves they were from Russia. They said I was a sniper," she said.
Vera says she was held overnight inside the regional administration building, but eventually managed to get free. She says she received no evidence that her sister had been transported to Russia, as some reports have suggested. She believes Nadiya is still in Luhansk.
Nadiya Savchenko, a helicopter pilot and first lieutentant in the Ukrainian Army, was captured in an ambush near the city of Metalist on June 18. Her captors later released her video interrogation on the internet.
Ukrainian Defense Ministry spokesman Bohdan Senyk said June 26 that the release of Savchenko and other POWs was "expected in the near future.
Three bridges over roads leading into the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk, including one in the village of Novobakhmutivka, were destroyed July 7 by explosions, blocking key access routes to the rebel-held city.
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.