Obama's Russia Envoy Nominee: U.S. Will 'Never Accept' Crimea Takeover
In his Reuters interview, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin vowed with respect to Donetsk and Luhansk, where heavy fighting has been taking place, that "we will not attack such cities." The Kyiv-led authorities will regain control "through the political process, not by attacking those cities."
Pro-Kyiv military blogger Dmitry Tymchuk says this morning that seven tanks that "arrived last night from the territory of Russia" supported a separatist attack overnight in the area of Dubrovka.
RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service quotes the Foreign Ministry in Kyiv saying Russia has expelled a Ukrainian journalist who has been covering the case of abducted Ukrainian military pilot Nadiya Savchenko. Russian authorities say the journalist, Yevheniy Aharkov, who was detained on July 18, was working without proper accreditation. He was also fined.
Savchenko, who was captured by separatists on June 18 before apparently being forcibly taken to Russia and handed over to Russian authorities, has been accused by those authorities of complicity in the killing of two Russian journalists who were covering the violence in eastern Ukraine.
Very helpful interactive mapping in "Wall Street Journal" of the debris from MH17:
RIA Novosti quotes the Russian agricultural authority, Rosselkhoznadzor, as announcing that country is banning the import of any fruits or vegetables from Poland as of August 1.
That follows a similar move a week ago against Moldova, which signed political and economic chapters of an association agreement with the European Union in June.