RFE/RL's news desk has issued this update on the situation around the MH17 crash site:
Body parts found by international investigators at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 in eastern Ukraine have been delivered to the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
Four refrigerated trucks carrying remains and personal belongings arrived in Kharkiv in the early hours of August 3.
Some 70 Dutch and Australian investigators are continuing to search an area of some 20 square kilometers.
All 298 people on board the plane died in the July 17 crash. More than 220 coffins have been sent back to the Netherlands.
The situation remains tense in the area, where neither pro-Russian rebels nor Ukrainian forces are in full control.
Local officials said on August 3 that nine civilians were killed in fresh fighting around the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk in east Ukraine.
The Ukrainian military said it had suffered no losses in the latest fighting.
(AP, Reuters, and Interfax)
Sloviansk "mayor" Ponomaryov surfaced in a Moscow TV studio“@lifenews_ru: Пономарев: "Боинг" сбили украинские войска pic.twitter.com/TeTEjlMEKt”
— Leonid Ragozin (@leonidragozin) August 3, 2014
11 Ukrainian paratroops still missing after being ambushed near Shahtorsk on 1 August
— bruce springnote (@BSpringnote) August 3, 2014
NYT-piece on separatists' brutality in #Slovyansk; a legacy of violent thuggery that alienated just about everyone. http://t.co/Tt1Kska93R
— A von Beckerath (@vBeckerath) August 3, 2014
My latest #Ukraine dispatch, incl interviews with Right Sector leader #Yarosh & other key warlords from both sides: http://t.co/H8NWH9TtX4
— Bojan Pancevski (@bopanc) August 3, 2014
Here's a "Novaya Gazeta" photo gallery of a rally held in Moscow yesterday, calling on Russia to send troops into eastern Ukraine. It doesn't seem to have been a massive turnout:
В Москве прошел митинг за ввод российских войск на Донбасс. Фоторепортаж Евгения Фельдмана http://t.co/ZlEuymbWGy pic.twitter.com/Hbtq2MjVlA
— Новая Газета (@novaya_gazeta) August 2, 2014
While war rumbles 2km away, life in Schastye is slowly getting back to normality. Town has electricity and water, but many are hungry
— Oliver Carroll (@olliecarroll) August 3, 2014
Photo of volunteer drone enthusiasts helping Ukrainian artillery id terror targets. Everyone contributes pic.twitter.com/bsRR3fsIxE
— bruce springnote (@BSpringnote) August 3, 2014
This Russian guy's "outraged" YouTube response to Western sanctions has been getting a lot of traction on social media for some reason...
Good morning. We'll start today's live blog with the last Ukraine update issued by RFE/RL's news desk overnight:
International experts using sniffer dogs have recovered more human remains and personal belongings at the Malaysia Airlines wreckage site in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine.
The head of an international recovery mission, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, said yesterday that 70 Dutch and Australian investigators were able to reach the site for the second consecutive day, despite clashes between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces nearby.
All 298 people on board the Malaysian Airlines plane died in the July 17 crash. Most of them were Dutch nationals.
Remains are being transferred by refrigerated truck to a facility in Kharkiv. They will then be sent to the Netherlands.
More than 220 coffins have already been sent back.
Meanwhile, the spokesman for Ukraine's National Defense and Security Council (RNBO) claimed pro-government forces have captured two key towns in the east of the country.
Speaking at a news conference yesterday, Andriy Lysenko said Kyiv's troops had "liberated" the towns of Krasnohorovka and Staromikhajlivka on the edge of the city of Donetsk.
Moreover, a map issued yesterday by the RNBO of the situation in eastern Ukraine appeared to show that the territiory held by the Donetsk-based separatists had been cut off from other rebels in the Luhansk region.
Lysenko also said Kyiv has received reports of Russian forces gathering at areas some five kilometers from Ukraine's eastern border.
Lysenko said those reports included claims that farmers in Russian areas along Ukraine's border were instructed to gather their harvests by August 3.
The Donetsk mayor's office on August 2 confirmed clashes in the Biryuzova district.
The Luhansk city council said all electricity and water to the city had been cut off.
(dpa, AP, UNIAN, and Interfax)