Talks have begun in Berlin:
The foreign ministers of Germany, France, Russia, and Ukraine have begun talks in Berlin over the Ukraine crisis.
Ahead of the July 2 meeting, Steinmeier said the crisis cannot be resolved without a cease-fire.
Separately, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said in Berlin 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 forces pressed ahead with a military offensive against pro-Russian separatists in the east after Poroshenko ended the truce June 30.
BREAKING: German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier says Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France backed the idea of using observers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe at border-crossing points at the Russian-Ukrainian border. Steinmeier spoke after talks with his Russian, Ukrainian, and French counterparts in Berlin.
And more from our news desk on the foreign ministers' meeting:
The foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France have agreed on a package of steps for a resumption of the cease-fire in eastern Ukraine.
In a joint statement after talks in Berlin on July 2, the ministers said the steps include reopening talks no later than July 5 on a cease-fire to be monitored by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
Russia also expressed readiness to grant Ukrainian border guards access to Russian territory to take part in controlling two border crossings once the cease-fire is in place.
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier described the Berlin meeting as “constructive,” adding that all participants “realize what responsibility we bear.”
Ukrainian forces pressed ahead with a military offensive against pro-Russian separatists in the east after President Petro Poroshenko ended a cease-fire June 30.
That ends today's live blogging.
Good morning, starting off the live blog for another day.
President Poroshenko has named his candidate for defense minister, according to Reuters.
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has named Valery Heletey as his candidate for defense minister, the presidential website said on Thursday.
If endorsed by parliament, Heletey, a 46-year-old colonel-general who is head of security at the presidential and parliamentary administration, will replace acting Defence Minister Mykhailo Koval.
Not so sanguine take from the Ukrainian foreign minister after the Berlin talks:
Good piece in the "Wall Street Journal" looking at the Ukrainian refugees who have fled to Russia:
As a result, some refugees traversing the Russian border expressed a conviction that Ukrainian forces had moved in not to neutralize separatists but to force people like them out. Chistka was the word on their lips, the Russian term for purge that has become a buzzword in reports by Russian state news.
"To them, we have always been Moskaly," said Ms. Vasilieva, using the Ukrainian slur for Russians.
She and others looked on with envy when Russia took control of Crimea, hoping that their region, too, would become Russian. "We always considered ourselves Russians," she said.
Video obtained from Ukrainian military television shows artillery being fired from a field near the eastern city of Slovyansk. The target of the shelling was not identified. The video was distributed on July 2 as the Ukrainian military said it had regained control of several small towns near Slovyansk, a stronghold of pro-Russian separatists. (Video from Reuters)
