Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry:
Here's an update on the Yanukovych story (from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service):
Former Ukrainian President's Treason Trial Adjourned Again
KYIV -- A Ukrainian judge has adjourned the in-absentia treason trial of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych.
Judge Vladyslav Devyatko rejected a request by Yanukovych to give him another month to get acquainted with the case and adjourned the trial until August 10.
Devyatko also denied a motion on August 3 by Yanukovych's state-appointed lawyer, Vitaliy Meshechek, for a one-month delay.
Yanukovych's previous lawyers withdrew from the case on July 6, saying the former president had informed them that he no longer needed their services.
Yanukovych announced on that day that he would not participate in the trial, charging that it was politically motivated. The court then decided to hold the trial in absentia and provide Yanukovych with a state-appointed lawyer.
Yanukovych abandoned office in late February 2014 and fled to Russia in the face of protests triggered by his decision to scrap plans for a landmark deal with the European Union and instead improved trade ties with Moscow.
Dozens of people were killed when his government attempted to clamp down on the pro-European protests known as the Euromaidan.
Prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for Yanukovych, who is accused of treason, violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and abetting Russian aggression.
After he fled, Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and fomented opposition to the central government in eastern Ukraine, where the ensuing war between Ukrainian forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 10,000 people since 2014.
And here's another news item, this time from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
Yanukovych's Treason Trial Set To Restart
The in-absentia treason trial of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych is due to restart today.
At the last hearing, held on July 12, a court in Kyiv adjourned the trial after Yanukovych’s new lawyer, Vitaliy Meshechek, asked for more time to prepare.
The former president's previous lawyers withdrew from the case on July 6, saying Yanukovych had informed them that he did not need their services anymore.
Yanukovych announced on that day that he would not participate in the trial, charging that it was politically motivated. The court then decided to provide him with a state-appointed lawyer.
Yanukovych abandoned office in late February 2014 and fled to Russia in the face of protests triggered by his decision to scrap plans for a landmark deal with the European Union and improve trade ties with Moscow instead.
Dozens of people were killed when his government attempted to clamp down on the pro-European protests known as the Euromaidan.
Prosecutors are seeking life imprisonment for Yanukovych, who is accused of treason, violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and abetting Russian aggression.
After he fled, Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and fomented opposition to the central government in eastern Ukraine, where the ensuing war between Kyiv's forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 10,000 people.
Good morning. We'll get the live blog rolling today with this update from our news desk on Mykola Semena's trial:
Trial Of Crimean Journalist Semena Set To Resume In Simferopol
Russian-appointed judges at a court in Ukraine's occupied Crimea region are scheduled to conduct a new hearing on August 3 in the trial of Mykola Semena, an RFE/RL contributor who is fighting what he says is a politically motivated separatism charge.
The judge at the trial in the Crimean capital, Simferopol, agreed at the last hearing on July 18 to include the UN General Assembly's December 2016 resolution on human rights in Crimea -- which was seized by Russia in 2014 -- in the case documents.
While testifying at the hearing, witnesses and experts called by the defense also sought to discredit the results of a linguistic examination conducted by Olga Ivanova of the Crimean branch of Russia’s FSB security service.
The charge against the 66-year-old Semena stems from an article he wrote for RFE/RL's Krym.Realii (Crimea Realities) website in 2015.
The Kremlin-installed prosecutor in Crimea charged that the article had called for the violation of Russia’s territorial integrity.
But linguist Elena Novozhilova said that she had found many mistakes in Ivanova's examination of Semena’s article. She testified that, in her opinion, the article does not contain any calls for the violation of Russia's territorial integrity.
Semena’s trial has been delayed several times since it started in late March.
Semena faces up to five years in prison if convicted.
He contends that the accusation is baseless and politically motivated, and that Russian authorities have based the case on an inaccurate Russian translation of his original Ukrainian text.
Activists say Semena's trial is part of a systemic Russian clampdown on independent media and dissent in Crimea since Moscow's armed occupation and takeover of the Ukrainian region.
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Wednesday, August 2, 2017. Check back here in the morning for more of our continuing coverage.