Good morning, starting the live blog for another day with the news that Donestsk might fall today. From our news desk:
A Ukrainian military spokesman says government forces are preparing for the final stage of recapturing the city of Donetsk from pro-Russian separatists.
Andriy Lysenko told Reuters that Kyiv's forces had now cut Donetsk off from the other main separatist-held city of Luhansk in the east.
Ukrainian media reports, citing residents, said Donetsk came under renewed shelling on August 11.
Meanwhile, Dmytro Tymchuk, a military expert reporting extensively on Ukraine, said at least two Ukrainian government checkpoints came under fire from across the Russian border on August 11.
Tymchuk said an ambulance evacuating the wounded from one of the checkpoints also came under fire, with an unspecified number of casualties.
Tymchuk also reports the separatists fired Grad missiles at the Luhansk airport. There were no reports of injuries in that incident.
Absolute devastation at Luhansk airport:
Meanwhile in Russia. A tank biathlon.
And here's more from our news desk on the artillery strike on a prison in Donetsk:
In eastern Ukraine, more than 100 inmates have escaped from a prison in the city of Donetsk after it was hit by an artillery shell fired in fighting between government forces and pro-Russian rebels.
One inmate was reportedly killed in the artillery strike.
In a statement, the Donetsk City Council said the high-security prison housed dangerous criminals. Spokesman Maksim Rovenskiy said the fugitives include people jailed for murder, robbery, and rape.
Meanwhile, a Ukrainian military spokesman says government forces are preparing for the final stage of recapturing the city.
Andriy Lysenko told Reuters that Kyiv's forces had now cut Donetsk off from the other main separatist-held city of Luhansk in the east.
Ukrainian media reports, citing residents, said Donetsk came under renewed shelling on August 11.
And here's a picture of the shelled prison:
And here's the latest situation map on the fighting in eastern Ukraine from the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council's information center.
Interesting if true. Via Kevin Rothrock: "Ukraine claims rebel leader Igor Strelkov has fled Donetsk & is “drinking heavily.” Russia fired on a Luhansk suburb?"
We wrote last week about Strelkov's growing frustrations.
This from newsru.com. Russia is conducting military exercises near the Estonian border.