Donbas
The USA, Germany and France will hold consultations on the Normandy format of negotiations on Donbas, US Special Representative for Ukraine Kurt Volker has said, according to the Voice of America.
The Horlivka meat packing plant and the Khartsyzk cable plant Silur, which ended up on the separatist-controlled territory and were seized by the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, have changed hands and are currently controlled by dubious Russian firms, according to Vostochnyy Variant.
Russia's decision to relax citizenship rules has not caused rush demand among Ukrainians on the separatist-controlled territory, according to Deputy Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories Heorhiy Tuka. "Russians are clearly disappointed because of this," he said.
Pro-Russian separatists carried out 13 attacks on 10 July. One Ukraine serviceman got killed and one wounded.
Foreign policy
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit Kyiv on 18 August for the first time in 20 years, according to newsru.co.il. He will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and to commemorate the Babyn Yar victims.
The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has protested against Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to occupied Crimea. Just like any earlier visits by Russian officials, his trip is a "gross violation by the Russian side of the state sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state," it said.
The National Council for TV and Radio Broadcasting will not allow the Russian Ekho Moskvy news media to open its office in Ukraine, its member Serhiy Kostynskyy said. Earlier, Ekho Moskvy's Aleksey Venediktov floated an idea of its office in Ukraine "because it would be very weird to have bureaus in Germany, Washington, Israel, but not in Kyiv".
Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilyev said that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's promise that his country would never recognise the annexation of Crimea by Russia is very important for Crimean Tatars. According to Dzhemilyev, Crimean Tatars' resistance to annexation and loyalty to Ukraine have had an impact on the Ukrainian government and society. "Crimean Tatars now enjoy higher respect in Ukraine," he added.
Ukrspetseksport, a company incorporated into the defence concern Ukroboronprom, and the Turkish drone manufacturer Baykar Defence have set up a joint venture in the area of high-tech weapons and aerospace technologies, according to the National Security and Defence Council. They will join forces to manufacture new types of modern weapons for the two armies. The first project will focus on the development of a high-altitude reconnaissance drone.