Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin: As the fighting raged, the Kremlin announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin would meet his Ukrainian counterpart Petro Poroshenko on Aug. 26 in Minsk, Belarus. The two leaders have not met since early June, despite a rapidly climbing death toll in east Ukraine. , according to CBC. Among the wounded was the commander of the Donbass battalion, Semyon Semenchenko, who said government soldiers had destroyed three rebel checkpoints and four firing positions and that fighting continued. Ukrainian government troops were fighting pro-Russian rebels in the streets of Luhansk on Tuesday and captured most of a town near the eastern city of Donetsk, tightening the noose around that key rebel-held stronghold, Ukrainian officials said. One soldier was killed and four wounded Tuesday when a volunteer battalion came under mortar fire before entering the town of Ilovaysk, 18 kilometres east of Donetsk, Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said on Facebook. Canada sends 3rd plane of supplies to Ukraine Retiring Lt.-Gen. Stuart Beare says the world needs more diplomacy (www.immigrantscanada.com). As reported in the news.