Belarus
One of the founders and director of Belarusian House in Ukraine NGO, Belarusian national Vitaliy Shyshow, went missing in Kyiv this morning after he went for a run in a local forest. He did not return home and has not been answering phone calls.
On 27 July, a representative of the BYPOL initiative bringing together former Belarusian law enforcers, Ihar Makar, said that the Belarusian KGB launched a large-scale operation to detain the most influential opposition supporters abroad. Employees of Belarusian embassies and consulates are reportedly involved in the operation.
Russia
Russia is testing its dubious one-component vaccine Sputnik Light on residents of occupied Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate has said. It noted that after promoting its Sputnik V vaccine, Russia is instead offering its Sputnik Light vaccine to local residents, thus misleading them. Sputnik Light has not been approved by the EMA and the WHO.
Crime
As a result of a special operation carried out in Kharkiv, Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) blocked a group involved in grave ideologically-motivated crimes. The SBU said that the group sought to rock the socio-political situation in the eastern region and was controlled by a Ukrainian MP.
According to LB.ua's sources, the MP in question is Illya Kyva (Opposition Platform-For Life) who manages the Patriots for Life organization.
Yanukovych to be tried in absentia
Kyiv's Pecherskyy district court has allowed former President Viktor Yanukovych to be tried in absentia over his role in the mass killings of Maidan protesters in 2014. He is suspected of having acted in a group with the then SBU chief and interior minister to supply law enforcers with firearms and order them illegally to use them to disperse the protests.
Independence Day preparations
Over 5,000 servicemen, 100 aircraft, 400 items of military hardware will take part in a military parade on Ukraine's Independence Day on 24 August, the Defence Ministry has said.
Apart from the parade in Kyiv's main thoroughfare Khreshchatyk, there will be an artillery salute from the city's Trukhaniv Island, a solemn passage of naval vessels on the Dnipro River and an aviation flyover. Arms and military hardware will be on display in Odesa too.
Nearly 15 partner states will take part in the parade.
Heat extremes
The average monthly air temperature in Kyiv in July reached 24.6 degrees centigrade, which is 3.3 degrees higher than the norm, the Sreznevskyy Central Geophysical Observatory has said.