Here's an update from RFE/RL's news desk:
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has told his country's parliament that nearly 7,000 civilians have been killed in the year-long war in eastern Ukraine between government forces and Russian-backed separatists.
He said in an address to the session on May 8 that more than 1,000 people remained unaccounted for.
The figures mark a significant increase from the most recent UN tally of around 6,100 people killed.
Poroshenko said some 1,657 Ukrainian troops had also been killed in combat — which he described as aggression from Russia.
Moscow denies supplying separatist rebels with equipment or manpower, but it has been open in its diplomatic support for the separatists. Poroshenko said Russian involvement in the war had forced Ukraine to seek to align further with the West.
(AP)