Here's today's map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine according to the National Security and Defense Council:
LATEST on fighting in eastern Ukraine, from our news desk:
Officials say at least 19 people have been killed and 97 injured in fighting between government troops and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine over the past 24 hours.
Andriy Lysenko, the spokesman of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said 15 soldiers and border guards were killed and 79 wounded in fighting near the Russian border in the Luhansk region.
The Ukrainian government accuses Russia of supplying the separatists with heavy weapons and fighters.
The rebels, in turn, accuse government forces of firing Grad missiles on civilian quarters in the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk.
Separatist officials said late on August 7 that four civilians were killed and 18 injured in artillery attacks on Donetsk.
Luhansk authorities warned that the situation in the city was critical because water, electricity, and communication systems remain cut off for the sixth consecutive day. (AP, AFP, and dpa)
More on today's explosion in central Kyiv:
The "humanitarian intervention" drumbeat continues in Moscow...
Ukraine applies its own sanctions on Russia, our news desk reports:
Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk says the Ukrainian government is proposing that sanctions be imposed by Ukraine against 172 citizens from Russia and other countries and 65 Russian companies who were financing "terrorism" in the country.
Yatsenyuk said the recommendations would be passed on to the National Defense and Security Council and that he expected parliament next week (August 12) to pass laws to legalize the proposed moves.
Yatsenyuk said that sanctions will include asset freezes, banning transit of all types of goods across Ukraine and withdrawing business licences.
Asked if sanctions could affect Russian gas transit, Yatsenyuk said the move could possibly mean halting "all types of transit, from air flights to transit of resources." (Reuters, AFP and Interfax)
According to this Russian news agency, "prominent French politician" Jacques Myard, the mayor of Maisons-Laffitte, a Paris suburb, has called the European sanctions on Russia "economic suicide" and encouraged the reconition of Crimea as Russian territory.
It's hard to say how influential he is, but his Wikipedia entry has only this paragraph:
Myard made international news when on July 17, 2012, just days before the vote on a new national sexual harassment bill, male lawmakers in the National Assembly including Myard hooted and made catcalls as Housing Minister Cécile Duflot, wearing a floral dress, spoke about an architecture project. Myard told L'Express that the hoots were a way of "paying homage to this woman's beauty."