Pro-Kyiv military blogger Dmitry Tymchuk says this morning that after retreating, separatist forces "are trying to regroup and organize a defense with major strongholds in Avdiivka, Donetsk, and Horlivka" and "repeatedly shelled" Ukrainian forces overnight in Avdiivka and Horlivka.
He also says Russian troops continue to amass near the border with Ukraine, and that Ukrainian troops in the border area were twice shelled "from Russia" by BM-21 "Grad" rockets.
From Birger Johnsen at the "Russia's Way" blog:
The main problem is the devastating effect this media warfare has had on average Russians, pro-Russian citizens in Donbass and trigger-happy volunteers. Kiselyov, who has been the leader of the media wolves, bears the responsibility of thousands of lives wasted during the Russian war operations in Ukraine. If Putin will be put before the Hague Tribunal (which I find very unlikely), he should be accompanied by Dmitry Kiselyov, Vladimir Solovyov and a few of the other killers behind microphone.
We're concluding our live blogging for Tuesday, July 22 and handing over Ukraine coverage to our newsroom, so watch HERE for all the news regarding the State Department's plan to release intelligence on the MH17 downing and other topics related to Ukraine and RFE/RL's entire broadcast region.
Wow. Not subtle, this "Come back alive!" video saluting Ukrainian troops.
"The Interpreter" features some of the recent statements and writings of its managing editor, James Miller, on the topic of Putin's alleged culpability surrounding the downed airliner.
A Gallup Poll this month asked Russians to rate their country in several areas. The results from the question "Do you have confidence in the following or not?" were record-level confidence in the Russian military (78 percent) and national government (64 percent). Our own Li Luo mapped out the trends since 2006. CLICK FOR FULL VIEW WITH INTERACTIVITY.
A commander is quoted by RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service as saying Ukrainian forces have taken control of Popasna, in the Luhansk region.