Here is today's map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
From our news desk:
Ukraine says its border guards have attacked a convoy of "dozens" of armored vehicles and tanks that Kyiv says entered its territory from Russia near the Azov Sea.
AFP quoted Ukrainian security spokesman Leonid Matyukhin as saying the separatist column crossed in an area close to the city of Mariupol in the Donetsk region.
"The convoy has been stopped by border guards," Matyukhin said. "The battle is ongoing."
He did not elaborate.
The clashes are reportedly taking place near the southeastern town of Novoazovsk, on the Azov Sea, about 10 kilometers from the Russian border.
The fighting comes a day ahead of planned talks on the Ukraine crisis in Minsk between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Petro Poroshenko. Officials from the European Commission will also participate. (Reuters and AFP)
The prominent Ukrainian military analyst chimes in:
A Ukrainian military spokesman on the fighting in the south:
From our news desk:
A Ukrainian official says a bodyguard of formerly prominent pro-Russian separatist figure Igor Strelkov has been detained.
Anton Herashchenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian interior minister, wrote on Facebook on August 24 that Strelkov's 34-year-old personal security guard was detained by special police in the Donetsk region town of Kostyantynivka on August 23.
Herashchenko said the guard, whom he named only as Aleksei, was charged with attempted murder.
Strelkov, whose real name is Igor Girkin, had pronounced himself defense minister of self-proclaimed "Donetsk People's Republic" (DNR).
He disappeared from view following reports on August 13 that he was severely wounded in fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Some DNR representatives denied those reports while others confirmed it.
On August 14, a pro-separatist website reported that Strelkov had resigned as defense minister in connection with a transfer to another post.
From our news desk: There are reports of clashes between Ukrainian forces and at least several dozen armored vehicles that crossed into Ukrainian territory from Russia close to the Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
A Strelkov comeback, starting a new front?
LATEST: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said he saw nothing humiliating in publicly parading Ukrainian POWs through the streets of Donetsk over the weekend.
The Ukrainian filmmaker who was arrested in Crimea, Oleg Sentsov, is on trial in Russia: