Russia adds four countries to food-import ban, threatens Ukraine:
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has said that four countries have been added to its import ban list for foreign food.
He also threatened on August 13 that Ukrainian products would be added to the Russian blacklist if Kyiv implemented the economic parts of its Association Agreement with the European Union.
Medvedev named the four additional countries as Albania, Montenegro, Iceland, and Lichtenstein.
He said Ukraine would be added at the start of 2016 unless Kyiv reached a settlement with Moscow that circumvents the economic regulations in Ukraine's trade accord with the EU.
The ban has already made it illegal for Russians to import food from the United States, Canada, Australia, and the European Union.
It was imposed by the Kremlin in 2014 in retaliation for U.S. and EU sanctions over Russia's invasion and illegal annexation of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and the Kremlin's support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. (Reuters, AP, AFP, Interfax, TASS)
National Security and Defense Council Secretary Oleksandr Turchynov visits Ukrainian troops in Donbas:
"153 attacks on our positions during one day is actual warfare," he said in a commentary on the video.
SBU on Oleksandr Yanukovych's trail:
The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) claims it has uncovered a scheme through which the son of ex-Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych wired embezzled funds to Russia.
Oleksandr Yanukovych's company allegedly bought equipment fictitiously in Russia for 10 million hryvnyas (almost $500,000). "The equipment was supposed to be imported to the territory, which at the time of the purchase, was already not under Ukrainian governmental control," the Security Service said in a statement.
In order to seize the bank accounts that were part of the scheme, the SBU informed the Prosecutor-General's Office.
Oleksandr Yanukovych left Ukraine in February 2014, following his father's fall from power. He reportedly lives in Russia, but is wanted for embezzlement and abuse of power in Ukraine.
-- Anna Shamanska
Monitor claims Russian reconnaissance activities in eastern Ukraine:
Russian armed forces are involved in reconnaissance activities on the front line along with local separatists in eastern Ukraine, claims Information Resistance group coordinator Dmytro Tymchuk.
"The enemy is actively pursuing reconnaissance activities (air, land and electronic reconnaissance)," he wrote on Facebook.
Tymchuk added that separatist forces continued to heavily shell Ukrainian positions. Two-thirds of the attacks are coming from Donetsk Oblast. "The enemy continues to actively regroup and redeploy its troops and military equipment," he wrote.
The Ukrainian government's Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) press center also reported the biggest number of shelling by the separatists the previous day.
"On August 12 Russian terrorist forces violated the cease-fire regime 152 times" the press center wrote on Facebook.
-- Anna Shamanska
(yes, we're aware of the issue with Twitter embeds. It seems to be their issue.)