Andriy Lysenko, spokesman for Kyiv's National Security and Defense Council, says fighting with pro-Russian rebels has left 18 soldiers dead over the past 24 hours. Fifty-four more soldiers have been wounded.
Here is a favorability chart from the Levada poll we cited earlier, with the USA showing a 74 percent unfavorable rating (the EU was at 60 percent unfavorable).
It is notable that Life News has expunged the pro-Kyiv views from an otherwise balanced Reuters video report from eastern Ukraine (which we ran below and here as "Donetsk Rebels Defiant, Population Divided As Offensive Draws Near").
The Life News version cuts away at the 1:15 mark, when a woman interrupts the Reuters interviewee calling President Petro Poroshenko "bloodthirsty" to defend him and the Ukrainian government. "You're not telling the truth," she interjects, arguing, "He has to protect his Ukraine. This is Ukrainian land. It's not true what you're saying."
Reuters:
And Life News:
The dropping value of the ruble and low demand for holiday packages have prompted the closure of several Russian tourism agencies in recent weeks. Speaking to Reuters on August 5 in Moscow, travel agents blamed the collapse on Russia's internal and external politics, citing the situation around Ukraine as one of the reasons.
CNN reports:
According to a NATO official, Russia now has about 20,000 troops stationed "in an area along the entire border with eastern Ukraine." The buildup nearly doubled the troop deployment in the last week by adding 8,000 more forces to 12,000 already there, the official said.
(That's around half the troop figure Kyiv has cited, btw.)
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says he has received information “in the last several hours” suggesting the threat of direct Russian military intervention in Ukraine is “higher than it was several days ago.”
With tens of thousands of Russian troops near Ukraine's border and fears mounting rapidly of a possible military move by Moscow, Reuters quotes a German Foreign Ministry spokeswoman warns that Russia must avoid any action that would lead to further escalation of the crisis in Ukraine.
Reuters video of Donetsk rebels defiant amid the current government offensive to retake separatist-controlled areas in that region and Luhansk. The pro-Russian fighters vow to fight to the end.