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Moscow Court Upholds Extending Pretrial Detention Of Ukrainian Sailors
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WATCH: Moscow Court Upholds Extending Pretrial Detention Of Ukrainian Sailors

Live Blog: A New Government In Ukraine (Archive Sept. 3, 2018-Aug. 16, 2019)

-- EDITOR'S NOTE: We have started a new Ukraine Live Blog as of August 17, 2019. You can find it here.

-- A court in Moscow has upheld a lower court's decision to extend pretrial detention for six of the 24 Ukrainian sailors detained by Russian forces along with their three naval vessels in November near the Kerch Strait, which links the Black Sea and Sea of Azov.

-- The U.S. special peace envoy to Ukraine, Kurt Volker, says Russian propaganda is making it a challenge to solve the conflict in the east of the country.

-- Two more executives of DTEK, Ukraine's largest private power and coal producer, have been charged in a criminal case on August 14 involving an alleged conspiracy to fix electricity prices with the state energy regulator, Interfax reported.

-- A Ukrainian deputy minister and his aide have been detained after allegedly taking a bribe worth $480,000, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau said on Facebook.

*Time stamps on the blog refer to local time in Ukraine

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Another item from RFE/RL's news desk:

Ukraine's Government Backs Away From Fight With Kyiv Mayor Klitschko

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko (file photo)
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko (file photo)

Ukraine's government says it will not seek to take away part of Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko's executive powers, at least for now.

Vasyl Ryabchuk, spokesman for Prime Minister Volodymyr Hroysman, wrote on Facebook on August 14 that the cabinet decided not to be involved in the issue following weeks of rumors that it may relieve the former heavyweight boxing champion of his powers as head of Kyiv's city

"My journalist colleagues, I am answering all of you at once. The issue on the consensus regarding relieving Vitaliy Klitschko of his duties was discussed by the government members. The decision was made that the Cabinet's current staff will not look into it."

Ryabchuk did not say whether a cabinet shuffle should change the stance concerning Klitschko, who has been locked in a power struggle with President Volodomyr Zelenskiy over the position.

While Kyiv citizens elect a mayor, the president appoints and dismisses the head of the Kyiv city administration at the behest of the government. Traditionally, the mayor has held both positions to allow smoother governing of the capital region.

Klitschko has held the executive seat of Kyiv since June 2014, with his current mandate expiring in October this year.

Zelenskiy on July 24 asked the Cabinet of Ministers to dismiss Klitschko, who has vowed that he "won’t give up."

A December 2003 Constitutional Court ruling said that the mayor has exclusive rights to select the city administration head.

In an earlier interview with RFE/RL, Klitschko said that the actions of Zelenskiy’s staff "smell of authoritarianism," adding that if he loses his city management powers, he’ll go to the courts, as well as to "the public, we’ll take all the steps to prevent this."

12:20 14.8.2019

Here is today's map of the latest situation in the Donbas conflict zone according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry. (CLICK TO ENLARGE.)

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