KIEV, Aug. 5 – Ukraine's international reserves in July rose by 0.7%, or $94 million, to $14.082 billion, the National Bank of Ukraine reported.

According to the bank, over the past 12 months, the increase in reserves amounted to 35.7%.

KIEV, Aug. 5 – Ukraine needs additional funding for its defense effort, including UAH 7 billion for the Armed Forces in the current year, Defense Minister Stepan Poltorak said.

KIEV, Aug. 4 – Social welfare debts in Kramatorsk and Sloviansk have been repaid, and current payments are made on schedule, said Social Policy Minister Liudmyla Denisova.

KIEV, Aug. 4 – President Petro Poroshenko has abolished various privileges for retired top military and civilian officials.

KIEV, Aug. 4 - President Petro Poroshenko has thanked President Alexander Lukashenko by telephone for holding a trilateral contact group meeting for settling the situation in Donbas in Minsk, the Ukrainian presidential press office said on Monday.

KIEV, Aug. 4 - Russia cannot introduce its peacekeeping troops in Ukraine unilaterally, said Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 5 - A small U.S. military team has arrived in Kiev to help investigate the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17, the United States said on Tuesday, with more direct training support for Ukraine also possible, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Aug. 5 - Ukrainian government forces, backed by warplanes, kept up a military offensive to claw back lost territory from pro-Russian separatists on Tuesday while casting a nervous eye at Russian military exercises over the border, Reuters reported.

KIEV, Aug. 5 – Kiev's Pechersky District Court has ordered the forced delivery to court of Russian businessman Konstantin Malafeyev, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Russian State Duma deputies Gennady Zyuganov, Vladimir Zhirinovsky and Sergei Mironov and on the selection of the measure of restraint for them in the form of arrest, Prosecutor General's Office spokesman Yuriy Boichenko told Interfax-Ukraine.

KIEV, Aug. 6 – The Russian Foreign Ministry's proposal on an international humanitarian mission in the Donbas is cynical in view of continued destabilization of the situation in the region by the Russian side, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said.