Ukraine

An international summit initiated by Ukraine reaffirmed on Monday (23 August) commitments to de-occupy Crimea, seven and a half years after Russian troops occupied the strategic Black Sea peninsula. … The initiative is a new consultative format launched by Ukraine, aiming to bundle efforts to bring Crimea back under Ukraine’s control and increase international pressure on Russia. Top officials from 46 countries and blocs took part in the summit, including all EU and each of the 30 NATO members as well as the US.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy says he is doing "everything" he can to end the war with Russia-backed separatists but that peace and control of territory in the so-called Donbas depends "90 percent" on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Efforts to bring peace to Ukraine’s Donbas region have been deadlocked for years. The steps the belligerents take to de-escalate violence can save lives, but people still die on the front lines and beyond. Crisis Group’s new visual explainer puts these dynamics in stark relief.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is condemning pervasive arbitrary detention and torture by both government and Russian-backed separatists in the seven-year eastern Ukraine conflict.  The condemnation comes in a report submitted Friday to the UN Human Rights Council.

[…] This study examines how the SMM was able to implement its mandate in an increasingly complex security environment, drawing lessons to inform future peace operations, for both the OSCE and the international community at large.

The United States has prepared contingency military aid in the event of further Russian military incursions into Ukraine, the White House has said.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas said his country has rejected a request by Ukraine to acquire military weapons amid continuing tension with Russian-backed separatists in the country’s east.

Georgia's main opposition leader, Nika Melia, has said that his United National Movement (ENM) will enter parliament after a nearly seven-month boycott. … In a joint statement, the EU and U.S. missions to Georgia said the ENM's return to parliament was "another positive step" toward strengthening democracy in Georgia.

Ukraine has decried the lack of progress in NATO's "open-door" policy to Ukrainian membership and said it could not comprehend why it wasn't invited to the bloc's summit next month.

When U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Kyiv this week and meets with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he will seek to demonstrate strong Western support for Ukraine from the external threat of Russian aggression. Behind the scenes, however, there could be tension between the two over what Blinken often calls Ukraine’s “internal threat”: corruption and weak institutions.