Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. (CLICK TO ENLARGE.)
Some Ukrainian media are reporting that President Volodomyr Zelenskiy is going to propose Oleksiy Honcharuk, the deputy head of the President's Office, to parliament as prime minister.
National-Security Adviser Bolton Arrives In Ukraine To 'Underscore U.S. Support'
By RFE/RL
White House national-security adviser John Bolton has arrived in Kyiv -- the first visit to Ukraine by a top U.S. official since the election of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in April.
“Ambassador Bolton is here to underscore U.S. support for Ukraine’s sovereignty, territorial integrity, and Euro-Atlantic path. He looks forward to productive meetings with Ukrainian officials," the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv said on Twitter on August 27.
A day earlier, Bolton tweeted that Washington supports Zelenskiy’s "reform efforts and vision to create a stronger and more prosperous Ukraine," amid continued fighting between government forces and Russian-backed separatists in the country’s east.
Also on August 27, the presidential administration in neighboring Belarus said that Bolton will travel to Minsk for talks with President Alyaksandr Lukashenka later in the week, without giving an exact date.
Bolton’s trip to Minsk, which has not been confirmed by U.S. officials, would mark the highest-level U.S. government visit to Belarus in the past 20 years.
The government of another former Soviet republic, Moldova, said earlier that Bolton would visit Chisinau on August 29.
Bolton’s Eastern European tour will most likely irritate Moscow, which has been trying to restore its influence over former Soviet republics in recent years.
Moscow has been actively trying to boost its ties with Minsk by developing the so-called Russian-Belarusian Union State that was established in the 1990s and which exists mainly on paper.
In Ukraine, Russia annexed the Crimean Peninsula in March 2014 and has been supporting pro-Kremlin separatists in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, where some 13,000 people have been killed since April 2014.
Bolton’s visit to Kyiv comes after French President Emmanuel Macron's announcement that the leaders of Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France will hold talks next month aimed at ending the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
"We think that the conditions exist for a useful summit," Macron said on August 26 at a Group of Seven (G7) summit in France.
He said the quadrilateral talks -- known as the Normandy format -- would be held in September, but did not give an exact date.
With reporting by Reuters
U.S. National-Security Adviser John Bolton To Visit Ukraine
By RFE/RL
WASHINGTON -- U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton said he will travel to Kyiv as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy prepares for his first trip to Washington.
“I’m looking forward to my upcoming meetings with our partners in Kyiv. We support President Zelenskiy’s reform efforts and vision to create a stronger and more prosperous Ukraine,” Bolton said in a tweet on August 26.
Bolton did not give the dates of his visit or his agenda, though media reports indicated he would discuss China’s attempt to purchase a leading Ukrainian engine maker.
Zelenskiy, who won in a landslide in April, is expected to meet U.S. President Donald Trump for the first time in September, when the two leaders are expected to discuss defense and energy issues.
The United States has given Kyiv more than $3 billion in support -- including $1.5 billion in military aid -- since 2014, when Russia annexed Crimea and backed separatists in Ukraine’s eastern provinces.
Bolton will also visit Moldova in the coming days.
That concludes our live-blogging of the crisis in Ukraine for August 26, 2019. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our ongoing coverage.