Donbas
Ex-President Leonid Kuchma will no longer be heading the Ukrainian delegation to the trilateral contact group on Donbas, according to the president's office. Back on 20 May, Zelenskyy said that Kuchma wanted to step out of the Minsk talks and hand his mandate over to Oleksiy Reznikov.
There are several candidates to replace Kuchma as head of the delegation, the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council, Oleksiy Danilov, has told Ukrayina 24 TV. However, he refused to name them. According to Danilov, Kuchma is leaving the group because of his age. He is going to turn 82 on 9 August.
Russia-backed militants violated the ceasefire on one occasion today, the Joint Forces Operation HQ has reported. They fired an under-barrel grenade launcher once near Shumy. The Ukrainian army incurred no losses.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has formed a military-civil administration in Severodonetsk, Luhansk Region.
Military
A Ukrainian-made smoke pot UDSH-U has undergone state testing at one of the firing ranges of the Defence Ministry in Lviv Region, according to Army Inform. Designed by Sparing-Vist Center, they had not been previously manufactured in Ukraine but are in high demand in the army.
Baptism
The leader of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, has congratulated Ukrainians on the 1,032nd anniversary of the Baptism of Kyivan Rus- Ukraine, the event "which has everlasting significance for our people as well as the entire Christian Europe".
Crime
An unidentified individual brandishing an axe has attacked a guard in a Mariupol synagogue, according to Rabbi Moshe Reuven Azman. The fight broke out but the attacker escaped, leaving jars and bags with excrements, sand and an unknown substance behind. Police are investigating the incident.
Experts of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has checked the risks associated with the leak of client data from Cloudflare and concluded that there was no risk to government resources. In particular, they said that the IP addresses of websites which were leaked online are open-source information.
Controversial pit
Pro-Russian Opposition Platform-For Life MP Illya Kyva was paid 1.2m hryvnyas (about 43,000 dollars) last year for leasing out a beet pulp put in Poltava Region to a company from Lviv Region, according to the findings of an investigation by Bihus.info. The pit is covered with weed and there is no sign of any business activity there, investigative journalists say.
Triangle
Ukraine, Poland and Lithuania are establishing a new format of cooperation, the Lublin Triangle, "as an important element for the development and strengthening of Central Europe as well as strengthening of Ukraine as a full-fledged member of the European and Euro-Atlantic family of nations", Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has announced at a joint press conference with his Polish and Lithuanian counterparts in Warsaw.
Russia
A 45-year-old Russian national illegally crossed the border into Ukraine near the Yunakivka checkpoint in Sumy Region to request asylum because he is allegedly being persecuted over his political and religious beliefs back home.
China
From 1 August 2020 to 31 January 2021, Chinese tourists planning to stay in Ukraine for up to 30 days during a 180-day period will not require visas, according to a decree Zelenskyy signed today.
Coronavirus
The EU will be able to open its borders to Ukrainians if Ukraine registers fewer than 480 Covid-19 cases per day for two straight weeks, Chief Sanitarian Doctor Viktor Lyashko has said.
By the morning of 27 July, Ukraine has registered 919 new Covid-19 cases per day, bringing their total count since the start of the pandemic to 66,575. This includes 1,629 deaths and 36,744 recoveries.
Propresidential MP Danylo Hetmantsev tested positive for the coronavirus.