Pro-Russian activists force Ukraine troops to abandon Luhansk airport

The Ukrainian military spokesman, Andriy Lysenko, has confirmed that Kiev's forces had abandoned the airport in Luhansk after it came under attack by a Russian tank battalion. Reports have also come in of fighting at Donetsk airport theguardian.com . The Ukrainian army and volunteer battalions have met with heavy casualties as they tried to retreat from encirclement in the town of Ilovaisk.
Fighting continued in eastern Ukraine even as a new round of talks were due to start in Minsk, Belarus – these talks are aimed at ending the crisis. This would be the first time that the talks would include representatives of the pro-Russian separatist movement.
It is felt that Kiev would not agree to give into demands from the rebel leaders, but the change of the tone indicates that, having boosted the rebels militarily, Moscow could be looking for a compromise solution that will still give it sway over swaths of Ukraine.
Incidentally, the unrest in Ukraine is taking a toll on schooling - in the rebel strongholds of Donetsk and Luhansk, most of the schools did not open due to the chaotic situation, with regular shelling and shortages of water and electricity having created a humanitarian crisis in recent weeks.
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Poroshenko cancels visit to Turkey because of Russian troop deployments in Ukraine

Ukraine's president Petro Poroshenko has cancelled a visit to Turkey because of "Russian troop deployments" in the country's east. Reports indicate that in the latest offensive, pro-Russian rebels have opened a new front in the south by seizing the coastal town of Novoazovsk bbc.com. NATO says that it has detected a significant increase of Russian arms being supplied to the rebels over the past two weeks whereas Russia has been continuously denying that its forces have crossed Ukraine's border.
As a result, the United Nations Security Council is planning to hold an emergency meeting in New York on Thursday at 18:00 GMT to discuss the crisis.
NATO Brigadier General Niko Tak has admitted that there had been a "significant escalation in the level and sophistication of Russia's military interference in Ukraine" over the past two weeks.
It seems NATO has detected large quantities of advanced weapons, including air defense systems, artillery, tanks, and armored personnel carriers that have been transferred to separatist forces in eastern Ukraine. Obviously, Russia is reinforcing and resupplying separatist forces in a blatant attempt to change the momentum of the fighting, which is currently favoring the Ukrainian military.
More than 1,000 Russian troops are reportedly operating inside Ukraine, both supporting the separatists and fighting on their side and, so far, at least 2,119 people have been killed in the four months of fighting.
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Violence in Ukraine has left 2119 dead (including 20 children) since April 2014

The figures of casualties in east Ukraine and released by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs as on 15 August 2014 and reported in bbc.com are frightening. At least 2,119 have died since mid-April, including at least 20 children, 5,043 people have been wounded in east Ukraine as of 13 August, on an average there are 60 casualties per day. So far, 55,800 people have been internally displaced and 188,000 have fled to Russia. Out of them, 22,000 have fled Donetsk and Luhansk in a five-day period last week. Ukrainian military officials have revealed that at least 17 civilians were killed when a convoy of refugees came under mortar and rocket fire south-east of Luhansk. It may be noted that the trouble erupted in east Ukraine when Russia annexed Crimea and pro-Russian activists took over important cities in east Ukraine like Donetsk, Luhsansk etcetera. Heavy fighting has been reported from the rebel-held areas of eastern Ukraine, with street clashes in the center of the key city of Luhansk. There have also been shelling near the rebel headquarters in Donetsk. An aide to Ukraine's interior ministry, Anton Gerashenko, has informed that 14 Russian TV channels had been banned from cable networks in Ukraine because these channels, like Russia Today and Life News had been broadcasting propaganda of war and violence. It is understood that Russian President Vladimir Putin would be meeting Ukraine's Petro Poroshenko next week in view of the increase in the number of civilian casualties. The pro-Russian separatists in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk had declared independence from Kiev and proclaimed their own people's republics after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine in March.