Breaking News, 26th of August, 2018

American Republican Senator John McCain died in the United States at the age of 81, the ex-senators press service reported. For over a year, John McCain has been fighting an aggressive form of brain cancer. Yesterday, the senator’s relatives announced that he had refused his treatment because of the irreversible development of the disease. John McCain was known for his sharply negative stance towards Russia. He advocated for more severe sanctions against Moscow, supported the supply of lethal weapons to Ukraine, and was an active opponent of the foreign and domestic policies of President Donald Trump and his administration, the staff of which he criticized on numerous positions.

The heads of the key departments of Afghanistan have submitted applications for their resignation, TASS reports with a reference to Reuters. The acting minister of defense, the head of the republican Ministry of Internal Affairs, the head of the National Security Directorate, and the president’s adviser on security matters have submitted petitions for resignation. Ashraf Ghani, the President of Afghanistan, did not accept their resignation and expressed his wish for the ministers to continue carrying out their work. On Tuesday, the government district in the city of Kabul was hit with a missile strike during the speech of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani. After that, Kabul refused to participate in the Moscow meeting on Afghanistan matter. The Taliban leaders had previously agreed to attend to that meeting.

The Security Service of Ukraine called a representative of the company «V. F. Tanker», the one that owns the Russian ship «Mechanic Pogodin» that is currently being held in Kherson, for interrogations on the «universal» criminal case started back in 2014. The company told that on 23rd of August — the company’s representatives were invited to the office of the Security Service of Ukraine in Kherson under the pretext of discussing the legal issues, TASS reports. However, instead of that, the representatives of the company were given summons for interrogations on 28th and 29th of August as witnesses in a «universal» criminal case. The company underlined that the special services of Ukraine still shy away from discussing the legal basis for the detention of the tanker «Mechanic Pogodin» — instead they are trying to create unacceptable conditions for negotiations.

The Prime Minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, announced that Italy may not support the EU budget for the coming years due to the failure of European partners to participate in the distribution of migrants that were rescued by the ship of Italian coast guards ‘Diciotti’ in the Mediterranean sea. Giuseppe Conte sharply criticized the EU position on the migration and underlined that the meeting on migration matters in Brussels, which ended in vain, was not a defeat for Italy, but a defeat for Europe, RIA NEWS reports. Later the head of the Italian Ministry of the Interior Affairs, Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini, announced that the next ship with migrants will be forced to turn back, since «the limit has come.»

On Sunday, Iranian Defense Minister Amir Hatami arrived in Syria with a two-day visit, the Iranian agency IRNA reported. During the visit, Amir Hatami plans to meet with the Syrian President Bashar Assad, TASS reports. The situation with Iranian troops in Syria is being often discussed at the international level. The United States and Israel demand the removal of the Iranian forces from Syria. Russia proposes to move them away from the Golan Heights.

In the DPR, over the past day, Ukrainian forces twice violated the ceasefire, firing three shells at the front-line territories of the Republic. The settlements of Trudovskie and Alexandrovka were hit. During the shelling — grenade launchers of various types were used.

Constantine Reztsov, specially for ANNA NEWS.