Communists in Kharkiv call for an end to the Ukrainian operation against the pro-Russian separatists in the east:
Tourist season doesn't seem to be hopping in Crimea today:
From our news desk:
A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman has said expanding EU sanctions over the Ukraine crisis would be an "unfriendly move" that would affect bilateral cooperation between Moscow and Brussels.
EU diplomats on July 10 said the European Union had agreed to add 11 new names to the list of people targeted by assets freezes and travel bans.
The new sanctions reportedly target mainly separatist leaders in eastern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military said on July 10 that three Ukrainian soldiers have been killed and 27 injured in fighting against pro-Russian separatists since July 9.
The Russian, German, and French leaders in a telephone call on July 10 called for a new cease-fire.
The office of the French president said Francois Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel told Russian President Vladimir Putin it was important to prevent separatist fighters and weapons from crossing the border into Ukraine from Russia. (Reuters, UNIAN, and Interfax)
Separatist poetry recovered from the Slovyansk City Hall (translation below):
They rushed
To the city police headquarters,
Shooting at people as they went.
They burned the station to the ground.
The siege was long.
Gunpowder filled the air.
Slavyansk was shelled from all sides
But it wasn't broken.
Strelkov's Russian warriors of steel
Everyone knows – they're our guys
Fighting the unholy vermin.
These boys are heroes.
Destroy, shoot, and kill
Those Banderite Right-Sector queers
And other such homos.
Make them stop stinking up the air.
Drive them to the Polish border.
And to make their way smoother,
"Introduce" sanctions "deep" into them.
Root out the fascists
Because they've crushed so many fates
And crippled so many lives.
National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko says Ukrainian border guards reported the brief presence of six Russian helicopters just inside Ukrainian airspace. Lysenko said Ukrainian mortar positions and ammunition were reinforced after the helicopters were spotted, apparently making demonstrative flights.
Council chairman Andriy Parubiy says that any aircraft illegally entering Ukrainian airspace will be destroyed.
Reuters video on the gradual cleanup in the village of Semenivka, outside Slovyansk. Emergency worker says it may take up to two months to clear the village of landmines.
Hromadske.tv is citing Donetsk journalist Denys Kazan as reporting that separatists from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic have procured several Ukrainian fighter jets from Crimea:
"They're currently located at the captured Mospino airfield near Donetsk. The terrorists are looking for pilots, and are ready to pay $8,000 per mission, but so far there are no people with such skills among them. Maybe they'll come soon from Russia."
The latest on Ukrainian pilot Nadiya Savchenko:
-- A court in Russia has remanded a captured Ukrainian military officer in pretrial detention until August 30.
The Voronezh Regional Court's officials say the decision was made on July 2 but only announced July 10.
Russia's Investigative Committee said on July 9 that Nadiya Savchenko, a senior lieutenant in the Ukrainian Air Force, had been indicted in Russia for her alleged complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists.
Two journalists from Russia's State Television and Radio Company, Igor Kornelyuk and Viktor Denisov, were killed near Ukraine's eastern city of Luhansk last month while covering the Ukrainian Army's offensive against pro-Russian separatists.
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry issued a statement on July 8, saying Savchenko had been captured by pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine and "illegally transferred" to Russia.
Russia's Investigative Committee insists Savchenko was detained within Russia.
"Fontanka.ru" reports that Valentin Vereshchako, the chief of staff for St. Petersburg vice-governor Mikhail Mokretsov, took off his pants and went for a walk on a central city street. He was later hospitalized and reportedly could be heard muttering the word "Luhansk" with alarm.