Ilya Novikov, the lawyer of jailed Ukrainian pilot Nadia Savchenko, told RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service that he expected the verdict in her case to be delivered at the end of September or the beginning of October.
"Court hearings in Donetsk [in Russia's Rostov-on Don region] won't start before next week," he said. "It will only be the second stage of the preliminary hearing. I'm not quite sure when the main hearing will be. But I think that by the end of September or at the beginning of October we will have the sentence."
Today, Novikov published a photo of a blue-and-yellow ribbon tied to the rearview mirror of his car as he was driving past the Kremlin. He wrote #IndependenceDay in Ukrainian.
At a military parade in Kyiv, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko marked Independence Day with a promises of more troops for eastern Ukraine.
Lavrov: U.S. signals it wants to mend ties:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the United States has been sending "signals" that it wants to start repairing ties with Moscow.
Relations between Russia and the West are at a post-Cold War low because of Moscow's annexation of Crimea and its involvement in the fighting in eastern Ukraine.
Speaking at a youth meeting near Moscow on August 24, Lavrov said Russia was open to dialogue, though it would also not "beg" for better relations.
"If we receive a proposal to start, even gradually, restoring these channels, mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation that have been frozen by our American partners, I am sure...we will agree to restore these channels," Lavrov said.
"We are already getting such signals from the Americans, though for now not very clear," he added. (Reuters, Interfax)
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko lands in Berlin to meet with French and German counterparts.
VKontakte, a Russian-owned social network, has unveiled a new set of Ukrainian-themed stickers, apparently dedicated to the country's celebration of Independence Day today.
According to Crimea Realities, since August 23 unusual border guards have been working at the checkpoints between Ukraine and the annexed Crimean Peninsula -- girls in white embroidered shirts. They congratulate those crossing on Independence Day and give them blue-and-yellow bracelets.
According to the local correspondent, people have different reactions -- some are surprised, some smile, others seem annoyed instead.