With reports of two casualties in an overnight blast in Donetsk, Ukrainian officials say they were not responsible, Interfax reports:
The Ukrainian Air Force did not deliver airstrikes upon populated areas in Donbas, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said at a news conference on Wednesday.
"The city of Donetsk, as well as the city of Luhansk and other cities and populated areas, have not been bombed by Ukrainian military aviation," Lysenko said.
Dutch recovery mission says it has handed out flyers in Rozsypne asking locals to bring found #MH17 passenger belongings to local playground
— Paul Sonne (@PaulSonne) August 6, 2014
Here is today's map of the military situation according to Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council:
Our Ukrainian Service explains how the recent collapse of Russia's travel industry can be linked to the annexation of Crimea (in Ukrainian):
From our news desk:
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry says NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will visit Kyiv on August 7.
The ministry said the visit, at the invitation of Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, is intended to discuss an upcoming meeting on the NATO-Ukraine partnership.
Earlier on August 6, NATO said a Russian force buildup near the Ukrainian border amounts to some 20,000 troops.
NATO said Moscow could use the excuse of a humanitarian or peacekeeping mission to send them into Ukraine.
Also on August 6, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said he had received information "in the last several hours" suggesting the threat of direct Russian military intervention in Ukraine was “higher than it was several days ago.”
Moscow on August 4 announced what it said were military training exercises near the border with Ukraine.
The Ukrainian government says fierce clashes with pro-Russian rebels had left 18 soldiers dead over the past 24 hours. (Reuters and AFP)
This could finally tilt the balance against Russia:
Former Polish dissident Adam Michnik likens Russian President Vladimir Putin's actions regarding Ukraine to Adolf Hitler's annexation of the German-speaking part of Czechoslovakia in 1938. The veteran of Poland's anticommunist opposition told RFE/RL's Aleksei Dzikavitski in Warsaw that Europe should find ways to "stop Putin" despite potential economic costs. (RFE/RL's Russian Service)
