According to this Hromadske TV report, separtists in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic are reportedly going to hold a "referendum" on joining Russia:
And speaking of the upsurge in violence in eastern Ukraine, here is the latest map of the situation there, issued by the Ukrainian Defense Ministry (click image to enlarge):
This is, indeed, an interesting analysis by Edward W. Walker for Business Insider of the recent uptick in violence in eastern Ukraine:
"Lenin is always alive, Lenin is always with you," sings a Soviet song. So he is. In Semenivka village, in the Chernihivska Oblast, a Lenin monument that had been toppled on February 26, 2014, has been restored.
According to the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, local communists decided to restore and return it.
"The Lenin monument should certainly be dismantled," says the institute on its website. "Any other stance, decision, and action is a mockery of the memory of Ukrainian victims of the totalitarian regime."
Russia's Defense Ministry channel Zvezda has published an article titled: "(Ukraine’s Interior Minister Arsen) Avakov has appointed young 'Hitler' to head Lviv police."
Yuriy Zozula, 26-year old former Maidan activist, has "looks strikingly similar to Adolf Hitler," Zvezda wrote.
Corporal Zozula is one of the best Kyiv police officers now, according to Avakov. Officers from the newly reformed city police force will begin patrolling the streets of Lviv on August 23.
His hairstyle, similar to that of old-school Ukrainian Cossacks, has become fashionable among young Ukrainians and is not believed to be connected to Hitler.