We have new evidence Russians intend to deliver heavier & more powerful multiple rocket launchers to separatist forces in Ukraine @marieharf
— Geoffrey Pyatt (@GeoffPyatt) July 24, 2014
We are now closing the live blog for today. Don't forget that you can follow all our latest Ukraine coverage here.
Good morning. We'll start today with this item from RFE/RL's news desk about how a major rights watchdog has expressed concerns about Kyiv's use of Grad rockets:
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has urged Ukraine to stop using unguided rockets which it said have killed at least 16 civilians in several recent attacks.
The rights watchdog said that both Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists have used Grads -- unguided rockets fired in salvos and sprayed across a wide area -- in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.
HRW warned that using such weapons in populated areas could amount to war crimes.
Kyiv has denied using Grads around major cities.
But HRW said investigations into four attacks between July 12 and 21 in insurgent-held Donetsk "strongly indicates that Ukrainian government forces were responsible for" firing the Grads.
It also accused insurgent forces of having recently used such rockets.
HRW's statement came after the Red Cross declared that Ukraine is in a civil war -- an official distinction that would allow warring parties to be prosecuted for war crimes.
(With additional reporting by AFP)
#Yatsenyuk resigns as parliament elections likely to be held in fall http://t.co/9JHtY90Um9 #Ukraine pic.twitter.com/SM4lxpKL5z
— Kyiv Post (@KyivPost) July 25, 2014
Not sure about veracity of this report. FWIW: @AlanaBowker Putin’s daughter flees Dutch home as fury grows over #MH17 http://t.co/vHZ9t32bWV
— Nina Ivanovna (@ninaivanovna) July 25, 2014
#Russia's consulate in the Hague ignores national mourning,doesn't put flag at half mast.#MH17 http://t.co/gYiuYN6VU5 pic.twitter.com/vOop9l4nR5
— Myroslava Petsa (@myroslavapetsa) July 24, 2014
Here's another update from our news desk:
U.S. President Barack Obama has joined with Australian and Dutch leaders to demand full access to the crash site of the Malaysia Airlines jet in separatist-controlled eastern Ukraine.
Speaking in telephone calls with Australia Prime Minister Tony Abbott and Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte, the leaders agreed to work for a full investigation into the shooting down of Flight MH17 last week.
A White House statement said that Obama and Abbott agreed that a "prompt, full, unimpeded and transparent international investigation is an imperative."
The statement said, "They expressed their resolve to push for full, immediate and secure access for international investigators to the crash site."
In a separate call with Rutte, Obama offered his condolences to the Dutch victims of the disaster.
Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down with 298 people on board a week ago over rebel-held territory in eastern Ukraine.
(AFP, AP)
Ahh, the rich symbolism. Russia to use convicts to build Kerch bridge: http://t.co/iEJqA1cXL0
— Robert Coalson (@CoalsonR) July 25, 2014
Today is the start date of the trial of Nadiya Savchenko, the Ukrainian pilot who is controversially facing charges of complicity in the June 17 killing of two Russian journalists, Igor Kornelyuk and Anton Voloshin, in a mortar attack on a separatist checkpoint outside Luhansk.
In case you haven't been following the case closely, we're re-upping this fascinating portrait of Savchenko by RFE/RL's Daisy Sindelar.
Savchenko is already a familiar face in Ukraine, where she has served as one of the country's first female career soldiers.
At 16, Vira Savchenko says, her older sister was already determined to become a pilot. She joined the Ukrainian Army, working as a radio operator with the country's railway forces before training as a paratrooper.
"Of course any girls in the army who are involved in more than office duties and paperwork have to be able to withstand the same physical pressure that the guys do, the same military drills," Vira Savchenko says. "They have to be able to perform all the same physical tasks. She was able to do all these things at a high level."
Nadiya Savchenko went on to serve as the only female soldier among Ukraine's peacekeeping troops in Iraq. Upon returning, she successfully petitioned the Defense Ministry for the right to attend the prestigious Air Force University in Kharkiv, which until then had been open only to men.
The distinction earned her the attention of Ukrainian television and theUnited Nations Development Program, which used her example to help successfully lobby for 2010 legislation establishing principles of gender equality in the Ukrainian military.
Read the entire article here
Disenchanted with Putin, some Russians vote with their feet http://t.co/9YZgUbPNMZ by @AdeCar
— Alessandra Prentice (@alessaprentice) July 25, 2014