Another story from Crimea -- by RFE/RL's news desk:
Russia To Deploy Advanced Antimissile System In Crimea
Russia plans to deploy the advanced S-400 missile-defense system in the occupied Ukrainian region of Crimea.
The deputy commander of the Russian Army's 18th Air Defense Regiment, based in Feodosia, told Russian media on July 15 that the state-of-the-art system should be deployed by August.
It is unclear whether they will replace or augment the S-300 systems currently deployed there. The S-400 is capable of tracking some 300 targets and engaging three dozen simultaneously.
It has a range of several hundred kilometers.
Russia annexed the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula in March 2014, a move widely rejected by the international community.
The Crimean port of Sevastopol is the home base of Russia's Black Sea Fleet.
Based on reporting by RIA-Novosti and AFP
Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone -- according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry (CLICK IMAGE TO ENLARGE):
More on Kerry-Lavrov meeting:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov visited the French embassy in Moscow on July 15, laying flowers to commemorate the victims of the Bastille Day truck attack in southern France that killed at least 84 people and injured hundreds.
Kerry and Lavrov also signed a book of condolences at the French embassy.
The visit came after Kerry and Lavrov met for more than four hours in Moscow on July 15 to discuss joint efforts against terrorism, the wars in Syria and Ukraine, and efforts to resolve the dispute between Yerevan and Baku over Azerbaijan’s breakaway Nagorno-Karabakh region.
Late on July 14, Kerry met in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin for talks Kerry described as "productive" and serious.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called Putin’s meeting with Kerry “rather constructive, frank, and detailed.”
But he said “there are still many outstanding issues related to real interaction” between Russia and the United States in military operations against Islamic State militants in Syria.
Based on reporting by Reuters, AP, AFP, Interfax, and TASS
Barring any major developments, that ends the live blogging for today.
Due to the events in Turkey and our live-blogging of the attempted coup there, we are suspending our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Saturday, July 16.