Meanwhile, here's a Luhansk update from our news desk:
The separatist leader of the self-declared Luhansk People's Republic (LNR) in eastern Ukraine has announced a general mobilization of the population to confront Ukrainian government forces.
Valery Bolotov issued a decree on July 24 for a "total but voluntary" call to arms for the population of the Luhansk region.
"We urge everyone who can hold a firearm to join the ranks of the LPR army," Bolotov's decree said.
Bolotov's statement said that, despite the fact the "best battalions of the enemy and its aircraft have been beaten back and they have found themselves graves in the fields of defeat," new forces were being brought to the frontlines.
Bolotov said that, in order to crush these new forces, the population of Luhansk need to mobilize and "reorient themselves to a new, martial mentality that knows no mercy for the enemy."
( ITAR-TASS, Interfax)
!!! BREAKING NEWS !!!
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk has resigned from his post.
More to follow...
Forensic teams preparing bodies for flights to Holland have 2 psychologists helping them cope with distressing work #MH17
— Tim Willcox (@BBCTimWillcox) July 24, 2014
Body bags are scanned for dangerous chemicals, x rayed then packed unopened into new bags before put in coffins for flight #MH17
— Tim Willcox (@BBCTimWillcox) July 24, 2014
Forensic teams wear masks and full gowns given the state of decomposition #MH17
— Tim Willcox (@BBCTimWillcox) July 24, 2014
The most difficult times are when dealing with the childen#MH17
— Tim Willcox (@BBCTimWillcox) July 24, 2014
No religious aspect to process although when train first arrived in Kharkiv whole team held minute's silence before starting work #MH17
— Tim Willcox (@BBCTimWillcox) July 24, 2014
They want every body part to be sent back to their homeland but v real chance some people will never be found #MH17
— Tim Willcox (@BBCTimWillcox) July 24, 2014
Forensic teams want to collect rest of remains from crash site but have no idea when security situation will allow #MH17
— Tim Willcox (@BBCTimWillcox) July 24, 2014
Ben Judah's "new journalism" piece for "Newsweek" on the life of Vladimir Putin has been doing the rounds on social media today. It certainly makes for fascinating reading, especially the passage about the Russian president's foreign visits:
His room is sealed: no one is allowed access to it. This is the work of the special security team. The hotel sheets and toiletries are removed and replaced. Their places filled with wash stuffs and fresh fruit under special Kremlin anti-contamination seals.
Meanwhile everything he will need arrives by the planeload: Russian cooks, Russian cleaners, Russian waiters. Russian lorries bleep and dock with two tons of Russian food. He will sleep on this soil one night. Meanwhile, teams of diplomats engage in multi-session food negotiations with the host.
The President cannot be served milk products, though that is contradicted by orders of Russian security services. The President cannot be offered food by the host – including the head of state or government. The embassy finds itself negotiating a tough position in countries with a rich culinary heritage: the President cannot consume foreign foodstuffs that have not been cleared by the Kremlin.
There is uncertainty here amongst the negotiators. Perhaps the President is secretly lactose intolerant? More likely, he is merely paranoid about poisoning. Russian materials are shipped in advance for the Presidential platter, where local cooks will be supervised by the FSB, SVR, FSO and their team of tasters. The President has refused to even touch food at foreign banquets.
The President is indifferent to the offence of the host nation. The interpreter talks about the plane landing on the hot tarmac. Excitement, fear and uncertainty tingle in the Russian embassy staff: he has arrived.
[...]
The President has no time to think. He goes from gold room, to gold room, in an endless sequence of ceremonial fanfare, with the lightest ballast of political content. The photoshoot. The reception. The formalities that enthrall those new to the summit of power, but irritate those long enchained to it. He thinks very little on his feet: the speeches are all pre-written, the positions all pre-conceived, the negotiations mostly commercial in nature.
The ministers have arrived with him. There are very few close enough to address him directly, fewer still able to joke in his presence. But he takes little interest in them and the moment he can he retires to the sealed and secured bedroom. Because he has seen all this before.
The ministers like to imitate the President. They like to imitate his gestures and affect that world-weary air. They like to pretend they too disdain technology. They like to imitate his tone and parrot his scoffing remarks. But, unlike him, the ministers laugh and drink with the night. Their half-shadowed faces become puffy and garrulous. But he is nowhere to be seen.
"He looks emotionless, as if nothing really touches him," the interpreter remembers. "As if he is hardly aware of what happens around him. As if he is paying little attention to these people. As if he is worn out... He has spent so long as an icon he is not used to anyone penetrating... He is not used to anything not being so perfectly controlled for him. He is isolated, trapped."
"The impression... you get from being close to him is that he would have been quite happy to step down. But he knows he has failed to rule Russia in anything else but a feudal way. And the moment his grip falters... it will all come crashing down and he will go to jail... and Moscow will burn like Kiev."
Read the entire article here
In central #Donetsk streets almost deserted. Most shops closed. Separatists reinforcing positions on outskirts #Ukraine
— Barnaby Phillips (@BarnabyPhillips) July 24, 2014
Journalist working for CNN abducted in separatist-controlled region of Ukraine. http://t.co/UdKxAMy50m
— CNN Breaking News (@cnnbrk) July 24, 2014
Real heavy shelling now. Grad missiles. #donetsk pic.twitter.com/lkRe8KGvG4
— Nazanine Moshiri (@nazaninemoshiri) July 24, 2014
Powerful Newsweek cover:
More on the potential EU sanctions from our news desk:
Reports on July 24 indicate the European Union ambassadors discussing fresh sanctions against Russia are likely to place wide-ranging restrictions on the activities of Russian banks.
"The Financial Times" reported new EU sanctions on Russia for its role in unrest in eastern Ukraine seem set to include banning Russian banks from selling shares on European markets.
The EU sanctions would go further than those the United States imposed on two Russian banks -- Gazprombank and VEB -- on July 16, with the EU sanctions targeting all banks with more than 50 percent state ownership.
Other likely new sanctions include expanding the list of individuals hit with visa bans and freezing the assets of "entities and persons, including from the Russian Federation" for their roles in fomenting the crisis in Ukraine and aiding Russia's annexation of Crimea.