From our news desk:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Russia must do more to end the crisis in Ukraine.
Kerry said he welcomed the move by Russia's upper house of parliament on June 25 that cancels authorization for military intervention in Ukraine, but said the vote "can be reversed in 10 minutes and everyone knows that."
Kerry said Russia must take "concrete" steps to resolve Ukraine's crisis.
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin must publicly call for pro-Russian separatists to give up their weapons, end Moscow's support for them, and help secure the release of hostages.
Kerry said the downing of a Ukrainian helicopter on June 24 that killed nine people was possible because separatists have Russian weapons.
He said tougher sanctions will be imposed against Russia if Putin fails to make real commitments on the ground in Ukraine in the "next days and weeks." (AFP, dpa)
As RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service reports (in Russian), the Ukrainian Security Service says it has thwarted an attempt to set up another "people's republic" in the eastern city of Dnipropetrovsk. Six locals were arrested and guns and explosives were seized.
This ends our live-blogging for June 25, barring any late-breaking news. From our news desk, this is a rundown of the latest news:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry says Russia must do more to end the crisis in Ukraine.
Kerry said he welcomed the move by Russia's upper house of parliament to cancel the authorization for military intervention in Ukraine, but said that it "can be reversed in 10 minutes and everyone knows that."
Kerry said Russia must take "concrete" steps to resolve the Ukraine crisis.
He said Russian President Vladimir Putin must publicly call for pro-Russian separatist rebels to give up their weapons, end Moscow's support for them, and help secure the release of hostages.
Kerry said the shooting down of a Ukrainian helicopter on June 24 was possible because the separatists had Russian weapons.
He said if Putin failed to make real commitments on the ground in Ukraine in the "next days and weeks" will mean tougher sanctions against Russia.
The White House said it was "delighted" with the decision by Russia's upper house.
Senators in the Federation Council voted 153 to 1 on June 25 to revoke the resolution -- adopted in March -- that provided for Russia to use its military forces in Ukraine if needed.
There was no debate on the proposal before the vote.
Putin announced that he had asked the council to withdraw the authorization before going into talks with officials in Austria on June 24, saying the move was meant to support the peace process in Ukraine.
The vote enters into force immediately.
Meanwhile, Putin, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Francois Hollande held talks via phone in which they discussed Poroshenko's peace plan.
Poroshenko reportedly told the other leaders about the "serious violations" by pro-Russian separatist forces since a unilateral cease-fire by Ukrainian forces began on June 20.
Poroshenko said there had been 52 violations, including the downing of the helicopter which killed all nine people onboard.
Poroshenko had threatened n June 24 to end the cease-fire before it is due to expire on June 27.
Merkel proposed a series of steps to ensure that observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) could monitor the cease-fire and the situation along the border.
Russian officials said the four-way conversation among the leaders would continue on June 26. (ITAR-TASS, Interfax, AP and Reuters)
LATEST from our news desk:
Ukrainian President Poroshenko has said he will introduce a bill in parliament on June 26 on constitutional changes that would expand some regional powers, as part of his peace plan to quell the separatist crisis in the east.
Poroshenko is also due on June 26 to hold another urgent telephone conference on the crisis with Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and French President Francois Hollande.
The talks are expected to focus on proposals involving the OSCE made by Merkel in a first round of four-way telephone talks on June 25.
Poroshenko will also address the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on June 26.
Meanwhile, fighting was reported early on June 26 in and around the cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk in eastern Ukraine, despite a cease-fire agreed between government forces and armed pro-Russian rebels. (AFP, Reuters, ITAR-TASS, and AP)
The eastern flashpoint city of Slovyansk continues to pay a heavy price:
LATEST from our news desk:
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, after talks in Paris, says Moscow must prove within "hours" that it is working to disarm pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.