Belarus
Belarusian President Alyaksandr Lukashenka has "made his choice in favour of Russia" when he sent out the 32 members of the Wagner private military company, which were detained in the Minsk suburbs in late July, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Yevhen Yenin has told Ukrayina 24 TV.
Three Ukrainian nationals – Yevhen Vasylyev, Kostyantyn Reutskyy and Oksana Alyoshyna – who were detained in Belarus on 12 August, are safe now and will soon return home, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said. Reports about a Ukrainian detained in Brest are being verified.
Coronavirus
Ukraine has surpassed China by the number of coronavirus infections which reached 87,872 this morning.
Over the day, Ukraine has registered yet another record-high number of new cases, 1,732. Some 19 patients died and 581 recovered.
Judiciary
Prosecutor-General Iryna Venediktova has signed the decision to suspend the head of the Kyiv district administrative court, Pavlo Vovk, and several other judges, according to journalist Yuriy Butusov. They are summoned for questioning by the National Anticorruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and declared wanted. They are suspected of the creation of a criminal group and seizure of power.
The NABU has finished an investigation into the case of former Infrastructure Minister Volodymyr Omelyan. It concluded that because of underestimated portal fees, the Ukrainian budget has failed to receive 30.05m hryvnyas.
Lebanon
Under the president's decree, Ukraine will send humanitarian aid to Lebanon whose capital Beirut was rocked by enormous blasts. The contents of the aid are not disclosed.
Economy
Ukraine's GDP in Q2 2020 shrank by 11.4% compared with the same period last year, according to the State Statistics Service.
Military
The state defence concern Ukroboronprom has completed the troubled contract on the supply of 45 armoured personnel carriers BTR-4E to the Defence Ministry. Some of the new vehicles will take part in Independence Day celebrations on 24 August.