Ukrainian director Oleh Sentsov still on trial:
Here is today's map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has ordered the General Staff to inform the OSCE and -- through the Joint Coordination Center for Cease-Fire Monitoring -- the Russian Federation about cease-fire violations by pro-Russian separatists in Donbas.
Poroshenko's statement followed a day in which Ukrainian positions experienced the most intense shelling in weeks, according to the press center of Ukraine's Anti-Terrorist Operation.
Separatist new agency DPR news has reported shelling from the Ukrainian side. A well-known separatist Twitter account, "Reports of the Militia," tweeted in the afternoon on August 9 that "Minsk is obsolete."
Although the OSCE hasn't explicitly blamed anybody for the burning of seven of its cars in Donetsk on August 9, the organization stated in a Facebook post that the responsibility for ensuring protection of OSCE employees lies on those in control of Donetsk.
-- Anna Shamanska
At the bottom of Andriyivskiy Descent, a picturesque Kyiv old-town street, 78-year-old Raisa sells hand-embroidered handkerchiefs. Raisa sends all the money she makes to the front lines -- about 1,000 hryvnyas at a time (a little less than $50).
The most expensive handkerchief she sells is made out of silk, and costs 33 hryvnyas or $1.50. She says, the price won't be raised, and even if "a dollar costs 50 hryvnyas" she'll keep it the same price.
It takes Raisa about four days to embroider one handkerchief. She is blind in one eye, and she says that her hands "don't always follow her commands."
Raisa was born in Belarusian Mohylev, before living in Grozny, and then Moscow, where she attended a university. She doesn't have fond memories. "I learnt what Russia was back in Moscow, when I studied in the university. There was such hatred, contempt," she says.
Raisa promises to sell her handkerchiefs at the same spot for as long as she can.
-- Anna Shamanska
Ukraine claims gains, separatists say no change:
A separatist attack on Ukrainian forces in Starohnativka, Donetsk Oblast, resulted into Ukraine gaining 2-3 kilometers of separatist-controlled territory, according to Ukraine's Defense Ministry.
Around 3:25 a.m. local time, one battalion of separatist forces, with the help of 10 tanks and 10 infantry fighting vehicles, attacked a stronghold of the Ukrainian Army close to Starohnativka, the ministry said.
Seven Ukrainians were injured, and the separatists "suffered significant losses."
At the same time, a representative of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic defense ministry, Eduard Basurin, claimed that Starohnativka had been under Ukrainian control the entire time.
"[The Ukrainian side] says that the militia attacked, but as a result they took hold of some key points themselves. This is false information to accuse us of violating the Minsk agreements," Basurin said.
-- Anna Shamanska