From our news desk:
New Ukrainian Defense Minister Valeriy Heletey has vowed to hold "a victory parade" in Crimea, which was annexed by Russia in March.
Addressing parliament on July 3, Colonel General Heletey said: "Believe me, there will be a victory parade -- there will be for sure -- in Ukraine's Sevastopol."
Heletey was approved by lawmakers after being recommended by President Petro Poroshenko.
A new head of the joint chiefs of staff, Lieutenant General Viktor Muzhenko, was also appointed.
Meanwhile in eastern Ukraine, government forces pressed their offensive against pro-Russian separatists after the expiration of a 10-day cease-fire late on June 30.
In Berlin, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Russia, Germany, and France agreed on July 2 to work on another truce, with talks starting on July 5 at the latest. (ITAR-TASS and the BBC)
Slovyansk is burning.
This ends our live-blogging for July 3, check back tomorrow for continuing coverage.
Good morning, we're starting up the live blog.
A huge number of casualties have been reported in eastern Ukraine:
A spokesman for the Ukrainian army's operation in eastern Ukraine says government forces killed 150 militants near the town of Mykolayivka, outside of Slovyansk in Donetsk region.
Oleksiy Dmytrashkivskiy said one Ukrainian soldier was killed and another four injured in the fighting, which began on the evening of July 3 and was aimed at sealing off the town.
Separately, residents of Donetsk city report hearing sounds of fighting involving heavy artillery overnight.
A city administration spokesman told reporters the fighting was near the villages of Peski and Karlivka. There are no immediate reports of casualties.
Meanwhile, the head of the separatist Luhansk People's Republic,Valery Bolotov, has dismissed his administration.
No reasons for the dismissal of the former administration were given in a statement on the self-declared republic's website.
It's July 4 and Putin has sent Obama a message.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has called for better relations with the United States in a congratulatory message to President Barack Obama marking U.S. Independence Day on July 4.
The Kremlin said in a statement that "Putin also highlighted that Russia and the United States, as countries carrying exceptional responsibility for safeguarding international stability and security, should cooperate ... in the interests of the whole world."
From the Kyiv Post, the "leader of the self-proclaimed 'Luhansk People's Republic' (LPR), Valeriy Bolotov, has dismissed the 'republic's' government, according to a decree published on the LPR Web site.