Briefly about the most important today's events in our digest of events
that have happened in Ukraine today
Soldiers of brigade 72 trapped in Russia have declared a hunger strike, a journalist reports
Servicemen of Brigade 72 and border guards who remain trapped in the territory of the Russian Federation have declared a hunger strike demanding to let them return to Ukraine.
According to the journalist Andriy Tsaplienko, soldiers were summoned for interrogation at some point and their fingerprints were taken.
18 servicemen were killed in the last 24 hours
The ring round positions of Russian mercenaries near Stakhanov, Alchevsk and Lugansk has been tightening, despite of bandit's ineffective attempts to break through the encirclement, Spokesman for Ukrainian National Security and Defence Council information centre (NSDC) Andriy Lysenko said at a meeting.
According to him, 18 Ukrainian servicemen were killed, and 54 others wounded.
ATO forces engaged in fighting with terrorists 25 times in the past 24 hours.
Positions of ATO forces were constantly shelled and mortared from the side of the Russian Federation.
Donbass terrorists use tanks to destroy railway stations
Terrorists continue to destroy railway infrastructure. They use heavy military equipment - in particular tanks - for that purpose, Ukrainian Railway reports.
The main railroad junctions have virtually been paralysed.
Railroad stations have also been affected.
There are no train services in the main and most important directions serving enterprises with a significant volume of transportation.
All this threatens to cause a severe drop in Ukraine's GDP.
National Security Council: Terrorists have kidnapped representatives of the Red Cross
Terrorists kidnapped three representatives of the Red Cross, Spokesman for the National Security Council Andriy Lysenko reports.
He presented recordings of intercepted telephone conversations between terrorists, according to which they had detained three people: a driver, a translator and actually a representative of the Red Cross.
Lysenko explained that they were trying to find out, who separatists were talking about, where and under what circumstances the incident had happened.
UN: 1367 people have been killed in the armed conflict in Ukraine
The conflict in Ukraine has already taken the lives of 1367 people, and more than 4 thousand people have been injured or wounded, Representative of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs John Hinh reported on the United Nations (UN) web site.
According to him, 3.9 million people still live in areas involved in hostilities. Infrastructure is seriously damaged over there, water and electricity supply has been restricted.
As reported by the UNHCR, 117 thousand people have fled from Eastern Ukraine, the Crimea and other regions of Ukraine.
Yatsenyuk suggested that Russia declare Ukrainian as a second official language
Ukraine suggests that Russia introduce Ukrainian as a second state language, Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk affirmed. The Ukraine Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the matter.
"Since Ukrainian-speaking community is the largest in Russia, it would be absolutely natural for Ukrainian to become a second official language in Russia, or, at least, to receive a special status", he said.
In addition, our country would also like to ask for opening Ukrainian schools in the territory of the Russian Federation.
Dzobak Volodymyr
РОЗДУМИ ПРО НАДВАЖЛИВЕ або ЧОМУ НАШІ ОЛІГАРХИ СТАЛИ МОГИЛЬЩИКАМИ НИНІШНЬОЇ УКРАЇНИ
