Donetsk artist Serhiy Zakharov has been missing and friends fear for his life after he put up street art lampooning the separatists in the city. Read more here:
Ukrainian Artist Still Missing After Lampooning Separatists
Latest from our news desk:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has tweeted that pro-government forces have captured the town of Zhdanivka, some 40 kilometers northeast of the city of Donetsk.
Poroshenko wrote on his Twitter account on August 16, "The town of Zhdavinka in the Donetsk region has been heroically taken by the armed forces of Ukraine. Glory to Ukraine!"
No independent confirmation of Poroshenko's claim was possible but Ukrainian government forces have been advancing and reclaiming territory in eastern Ukraine seized by pro-Russian separatists several months ago.
The separatists' Novorossia Agency website did not report any fighting in the Zhdanivka area but did say several neighborhoods in Donetsk had been hit by shelling and people had been killed. (UNIAN and Agenstvo Novorossia)
The Donetsk separatists get nuttier:
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council seems to believe many of the pro-Russian separatists are leaving eastern Ukraine:
Another map purporting to show the position of Ukrainian military units in their operations against the pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine: