At a rally in Kyiv today, activists urged G20 leaders to encourage Russian officials to release Ukrainians being held as political prisoners, including Crimean Tatar leader Ilmi Umerov.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel said today that she hopes to be able to discuss the Ukraine conflict with other leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit that begins in Hangzhou, China on September 4, AP reports.
Merkel said she hopes for discussions on "how things go forward in Ukraine."
A Radio Svoboda video report on a very dour Miners' Day in Luhansk as coal mines are closed and miners not working:
A Radio Svoboda report on the low cost of living in Ukraine -- for foreigners:
A man was arrested in the Donetsk region for allegedly selling grenade launchers.
A report claiming Ukrainian PM Volodymyr Hroysman has not yet filed his "e-declaration" of his income and assets, as required by law.
We are now closing the live blog for today. Until we resume again tomorrow morning, you can keep up with all our other Ukraine coverage here.
Here's an update on the "school-year truce" from our news desk:
Mogherini Says Truce Holding In East Ukraine
European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini says a cease-fire is holding in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between government forces and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,500 people since April 2014.
"We hope that this can constitute a good basis not only for the restart of the school year but also for a continuation of the situation in this respect," Mogherini said on September 2 after meeting the EU's 28 foreign ministers in Bratislava, Slovakia.
The trilateral contact group on Ukraine, which comprises representatives from Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), struck a deal last week for a cease-fire to coincide with the new school year starting on September 1.
A similar 2015 cease-fire held for less than a week.
Mogherini also said the ministers agreed that the bloc would look into supporting a planned police mission by the OSCE to help the stalled peace process in Ukraine's east.
She added that the lifting of the sanctions against Russia "is going to be linked to the full implementation of the Minsk agreements" aimed at resolving the conflict.