Here's an update from our news desk on the fighting in the east of the country:
Ukraine says government forces today were fighting pro-Russian separatists within Luhansk, one of two rebel-held cities in eastern Ukraine.
Meanwhile, officials in Kyiv said government forces tightened their encirclement of Donetsk by capturing another town near that rebel-held stronghold.
Kyiv says nearby fighting today halted efforts to recover the bodies of civilians they say were killed by separatists while fleeing Luhansk on August 18.
The government says it found the bodies of 15 civilians.
Pro-Russian separatists deny carrying out the attack, calling it "blatant propaganda."
In Moscow, meanwhile, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross have agreed to take "in the coming hours active measures" to resolve the status of a large convoy of trucks that Moscow says is carrying humanitarian aid destined for eastern Ukraine.
(Reuters, AP, Interfax)
Interesting if true-video claims "DNR" building artillery trench here & residents forced them out https://t.co/7r0K6mRkd5 via @EuromaidanPR
— Glenn Kates (@gkates) August 19, 2014
Ukrainian soldiers are reinforcing their positions in areas recently reclaimed from pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine. With the help of high-tech gadgetry and brute force, government officers claim they have the upper hand. But as VOA's Gabe Joselow reports, outright victory for Kyiv's army will not be easy.
Some have questioned whether the incident happened at all.
Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council has released its daily map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine:
