Internal Security News

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko promised not to use aircraft and heavy artillery in the army operation in Donetsk, Donetsk Mayor Oleksandr Lukianchenko said. "Over the past 24 hours alone, our servicemen have defused 700 explosive devices which the terrorists have left behind in Sloviansk," he said.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukraine's deputy foreign minister, Danylo Lubkivsky, said illegal armed formations continue gunfire attacks in the eastern regions and are not going to lay down their arms.
   
• Defense Minister Valeriy Heletei said there will be no more unilateral ceasefire by the Ukrainian units engaged in the army operation in eastern Ukraine.
   
• Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council spokesman Andriy Lysenko said the gunfire attack in Luhansk which killed two civilians and wounded eight others was launched by the militants. (On July 7, Russian media, citing a source from the ‘people’s militia’, reported heavy artillery fire in Luhansk, claiming several people were killed and several buildings damaged.)
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) A fourth bridge was blown up in Donetsk.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Armed men seized the building of the neurosurgery unit of the Kalinin Hospital in Donetsk, according to the Donetsk regional state administration's health care department.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) A special procedure for restoring liberated cities will be discussed at a meeting of the government on July 9, Interior Minister of Ukraine Arsen Avakov said.
   
• President Petro Poroshenko named Vasyl Grytsak the new chief of military operations against separatists in eastern Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Ukrainian aviation authority Gosaviasluzhba closed the airspace in the east of the country because of the military operation.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Dovzhansky and Diakove border checkpoints in Luhansk region and another two positions of tactical groups of Ukrainian law enforcers came under mortar fire overnight.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Dnipropetrovsk Region State Administration head Ihor Kolomoisky proposed confiscating the assets of supporters and sponsors of terrorism and transfer them to a special-purpose open joint stock company whose shareholders will be partakers in the army operation and families of servicemen who died fighting in eastern Ukraine.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Poroshenko proposed Sviatohirsk, Donetsk region, as a venue of the next round of the Donbas peace talks.
   
• The administration of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic was skeptical about Poroshenko’s proposal to hold a next round of consultations on the peace process in the east in Sviatohirsk.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) A Lenin monument was removed overnight in the village of Chervona Sloboda, Sumy region, the Ukrainian Communist Party said.
   

Diplomacy News

• (RIA Novosti) Russia asked for an urgent convention of the OSCE Permanent Council and presented a draft decision demanding the cessation of hostilities and resumption of truce measures to alleviate the humanitarian situation in the east of Ukraine. Russia is concerned with humanitarian implications of Ukraine’s plan to blockade the cities of Donetsk and Luhansk. Russia has called for a withdrawal of all Ukrainian forces from the conflict zone.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian lawmakers will promote the White Book, a Foreign Ministry compilation of human rights violations in Ukraine during the conflict, to provide "objective information" about the crisis in the country, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko said.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini discussed international support for Ukraine. "The president praised the efforts of Germany and France, which allowed the formation of the so-called "Normandy four" [Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France] with the participation of Russia. Still, according to him, the international influence could be much stronger if Italy and Britain joined France and Germany," reported the presidential press service.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration said that Ukrainian accession to NATO is not on current agenda. Valeriy Chaly said that though he finds the nation’s non-aligned status problematic, the issue should be put on the agenda after Ukraine’s domestic problems are resolved, the public sentiment altered, and relevant public support gained.
   
• An EU source said that European Union ambassadors will meet Wednesday to consider increasing the number of people hit with EU asset freezes and travel bans for their actions against Ukraine's government.
   
• Russia's top gas producer, Gazprom, said that Ukraine has not met its payment deadline for June resulting in its total debt to the company rising to $5.3 billion.
   
• Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavlo Klimkin said Ukraine is awaiting a clear sign of the readiness of Russia and the separatists to begin peace talks in the east.
   
•  (RIA Novosti) Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogerini said during a briefing with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Pavel Klimkin in Kyiv that Rome is ready to provide broad support for reforms in Ukraine.
   
• European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Stefan Fule said the work of the EU Police Mission in Ukraine, as a part of the joint security and defense policy, will help to return the trust of the people in the state.
   
•  (ITAR-TASS) Slovenian FM Carl Eryavets said that the country supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but believes that Kiev has to protect the Russian minority.
   

Governance News

• (Interfax Ukraine) The Ukrainian Justice Ministry asked Kyiv's District Administrative Court to ban the activity of the Communist Party of Ukraine.
   

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