Without providing access to Crimea for Ukrainian experts, the visit of the monitoring mission of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee will not be possible.  Ukraine’s Deputy Minister of Culture of Ukraine Tamara Mazur said, while on Radio Krym.Realii, that Ukrainian authorities will not invite international experts to the annexed peninsula.

“This monitoring mission can only come at the exclusive invitation of Ukraine.  UNESCO has said that Ukraine should invite them when an opportunity arises.  …

Fifty-two percent of polled Ukrainians think about the threat of a full-scale war with Russia today, while 34% do not see this as a threat, according to a survey by the Social Research Center, Sofia.

Should the military conflict with Russia intensify, 27% of respondents said they are willing to assist in territorial defence units, while 39% intend to support those who advocate for ending the war and 25% do not intend to interfere.

However, 44% of respondents believe that the West will not …

The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, stated during a joint press conference in Brussels with the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Volodymyr Groysman, that holding local elections in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions is impossible until the security situation in the area improves.

“I share the view of Ukrainian Prime Minister and Johannes Hahn that the local elections can’t be held until the situation with security in eastern Ukraine is improved,” Jean-Claude Juncker stated. …

The Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Information Policy, Tetiana Popova, stated at a briefing on July 19th that 60 transmitters have been installed for the resumption of Ukrainian broadcasting in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, RBC-Ukraine reported.

“Currently, 60 transmitters that we installed in the east of the country are already functioning,” Popova stated. According to her, the majority of these transmitters were provided by the governments of other countries at a total cost of 60 million …

The Russian Command of troops in the Donbas is preparing local citizens for organized resistance against the possible presence of an international peacekeeping mission.  This was reported by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (HUR MOU) via Facebook.

“Training for ‘unarmed resistance to the invasion of the foreign armed mission’ has been planned in Luhansk on the 19th of July.  According to the training schedule, a demonstration will be held on the …

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia is expecting to receive WADA documents related to doping by Russian athletes in order to conduct its own investigation."Yesterday, President Vladimir Putin appealed to the Commission to represent reasonable, substantial evidence and facts, which became the basis for the accusations announced by McLaren. This information is required and, if provided, will be used in the course of investigation that, I again want to repeat — have yet to have been …

The Principal Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, Alexander Hug, discussed the issues facing the staff of the mission in eastern Ukraine.

"The greatest difficulty we face is along the supposedly secure zone along the contact line and mainly at the moment in areas not under the control of the Ukrainian government. This includes the area between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, also not under the control of the Ukrainian government,” Hug said in an …

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will meet in the first week of August in Russia, according to Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov, RIA Novosti reported.

"Indeed, today, through diplomatic channels, a meeting between Putin and Erdoğan was prepared and worked out. We agreed that this meeting will take place in early August, will be in the Russian Federation, but the city and the date weren’t specified,” Peskov stated.

Putin and Erdoğan held a …