Daily Ukraine Crisis Updates – August 26, 2014
News | August 26, 2014
- Ten Russian soldiers were detained in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. The Russian soldiers were captured with documents and weapons on them, the Security Service said. They did not resist detention.
- (RIA Novosti) A source in the Russian Defense Ministry said that the ten Russian military servicemen detained by Ukraine’s military were patrolling the border and most likely crossed it by accident.
- (Interfax Ukraine) A group of Russian servicemen detained in eastern Ukraine did not get lost, but were carrying out a special task, Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council (NSDC) spokesman Andriy Lysenko alleged.
- (ITAR-TASS) An NSDC spokesman said that the Russian servicemen detained in Ukraine are not prisoners of war but detainees.
- (Interfax Ukraine) Ukraine received a Russian note regarding its intention to send a new convoy with humanitarian aid for eastern Ukraine.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the crisis in Ukraine could not be solved by a further military escalation or without dialogue with representatives of the country's Russian-speaking eastern regions.
- Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko met Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin at the summit of the Customs Union and Ukraine in Minsk, Belarus.
- (RIA Novosti) Russia will have to take measures in response to Kyiv’s implementation of the EU Association Agreement, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.
- (Interfax Ukraine) President Vladimir Putin said he favors Ukraine's broader interaction with the Customs Union, but doubts this will be feasible after the enforcement of Ukraine's Association Agreement with the European Union.
- (ITAR-TASS) Militants from the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” claimed to have seized the strategically important height, Saur-Mogila, assuming control of the border area with Russia that stretches into the Sea of Azov.
- (ITAR-TASS) The Ukrainian military was encircled by militants in the area of Ilovaisk near Donetsk.
- (Interfax Ukraine) Militants were attempting to break through the encirclement of Donetsk.
- (ITAR-TASS) A spokesman for the self-proclaimed “Donetsk People’s Republic” said that they will insist on exchanging all captives according to the “all-for-all” principle and will not agree to any further compromises. Militants presently hold around 150 Ukrainian soldiers hostage, while the Ukrainian army has captured at least 350.
- (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Poroshenko announced that the early parliamentary election will take place on October 26, 2014.