Andriy Lysenko, a spokesman for Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council, said today that four Ukrainian troops were killed as national forces carried out attacks on more than 100 rebel positions and cleared separatists from three villages.
Lysenko said three military personnel died in rebel attacks on government vehicles and checkpoints; a border guard was also killed by rebel motar fire on the Novoazovsk crossing point.
From our news desk:
The OSCE Parliamentary Assembly has expressed "grave concern" over the crisis in Ukraine and reaffirmed its intention to engage all parties in efforts to achieve a peaceful resolution.
A resolution concluding a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly in Baku also calls on Russia to “reverse the annexation" of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
Nine OSCE parliamentarians, including members of the Russian delegation, abstained from voting for the resolution, which passed by a majority of 97 to 1.
The resolution -- dubbed the Baku Declaration -- also expressed concern over the "misuse of administrative procedures and legislation" to silence rights activists in OSCE participating states, including Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Russia.
It asked Turkmenistan to provide information on persons who have disappeared in the country’s prisons and expressed "deep concern" over "victims of politicized court cases" in Azerbaijan.
Poll: 43 percent of Ukrainians want to restore Ukraine's status as a nuclear power.
A funeral ceremony for slain Russian television journalist Anatoly Klyan was held today in Moscow. The body of the 68-year-old cameraman was lying in repose at the main studio of his employer of more than 40 years, state-controlled Channel One.
Klyan died after being shot in the stomach on June 30 in Ukraine's Donetsk region when a bus he was traveling on came under fire. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to posthumously award Klyan the Order of Courage. (Reuters video)
The Ukrainian Security Service, or SBU, says its agents on July 1 detained a criminal gang in Kharkiv responsible for recruiting local citizens to join armed gangs loyal to the separatist Luhansk People's Republic.
The SBU says the criminal group includes seven Kharkiv residents aged between 25 and 50. They allegedly looked for potential recruits with previous weapons training and military experience, and reportedly promised monetary rewards in exchange for killing Ukrainian military recruiters.
From our news desk:
Germany's foreign minister says the Ukraine crisis cannot be resolved without a cease-fire.
Speaking ahead of talks in Berlin on July 2 with his counterparts from France, Russia, and Ukraine, Frank-Walter Steinmeier said there could only be negotiations "when the guns fall silent."
Separately, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Berlin that Russia's actions in Ukraine "threaten the peace and security we have built after the fall of the Berlin Wall."
He spoke after talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The German leader said it is "very regrettable that during the 10 days of the unilateral cease-fire declared by the Ukrainian President [Petro Poroshenko], there was no significant embrace of Poroshenko's peace plan."
Ukrainian government forces pressed ahead with a military offensive against pro-Russian separatists in the country's east after Poroshenko ended the truce on June 30.