The head of the Dutch MH17 recovery mission, Pieter-Jaap Aalbersberg, said in his daily report posted on the Dutch government's official website that investigators have finished their search for remains, belongings, and debris yesterday at one part of the site:
The experts searched a large area near the village of Roszypne. The work had to be stopped temporarily due to negotiations being conducted by the OSCE. A smaller group of experts was able to work undisturbed for the rest of the afternoon. The search in this area is now completed.
From ITAR-TASS:
Russia's Airborne Forces (VDV) personnel is planned to be doubled - up to 72,000 troops, a source in the Russian General Staff said on Wednesday.
According to the high-ranking official, these plans are to be implemented in 2019.
AFP quotes the city council in separatist-held Donetsk as saying that there were no casualties in an overnight air strike on that city.
New Levada Center poll shows a 20-year high in anti-Western sentiment among Russians, RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports. Some 74 percent of respondents regard relations with the United States as "mostly bad" or "very bad," compared with 60 percent vis-a-vis Europe.
Russians' views of Ukrainians are also suffering, with around 55 percent viewing them negatively. About two-thirds of respondents thought Ukrainian authorities were to blame for worsening relations, and just 8 percent thought the blame falls equally on both sides.
