As we close the live blog for tonight, we'd like to recall our piece on what soccer club Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (still even at 2-2 in the Europe Cup final right now) has done for fans back in Ukraine:
Soccer Club Gives Ukraine Something To Cheer About
Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Ukraine, Russia drop in economic competitiveness:
According to a global ranking, Russia and Ukraine have seen their economic competitiveness plummet over the past year.
The annual ranking released on May 27 by the Swiss-based Institute for Management Development (IMD) showed that Russia fell from 38th place to 45th out of the 61 countries.
And Ukraine nose-dived 11 spots, landing at 60th place, ahead of Venezuela.
IMD said the drops "highlight the negative impact that armed conflict and the accompanying higher market volatility have on competitiveness in an increasingly interconnected international economy."
Fighting between pro-government forces and Moscow-backed separatists has killed more than 6,100 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
After annexing Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula in March 2014, the West imposed sanctions on Russia that limited its access to foreign capital and technologies.
The IMD ranking also showed that the United States maintained the top spot, followed by Hong Kong and Singapore. (AFP)
Reuters' extensive report on Russia's troop build-up:
Russia's army is massing troops and hundreds of pieces of weaponry including mobile rocket launchers, tanks and artillery at a makeshift base near the border with Ukraine, a Reuters reporter saw this week.
Many of the vehicles have number plates and identifying marks removed while many of the servicemen had taken insignia off their fatigues. As such, they match the appearance of some of the forces spotted in eastern Ukraine, which Kiev and its Western allies allege are covert Russian detachments.
The scene at the base on the Kuzminsky firing range, around 50 km (30 miles) from the border, offers some of the clearest evidence to date of what appeared to be a concerted Russian military build-up in the area.
Earlier this month, NATO military commander General Philip Breedlove said he believed the separatists were taking advantage of a ceasefire that came into force in February to re-arm and prepare for a new offensive. However, he gave no specifics.
Russia denies that its military is involved in the conflict in Ukraine's east, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting forces loyal to the pro-Western government in Kiev.
Russia's defense ministry said it had no immediate comment about the build-up. Several soldiers said they had been sent to the base for simple military exercises, suggesting their presence was unconnected to the situation in Ukraine.
Asked by Reuters if large numbers of unmarked weaponry and troops without insignia at the border indicated that Russia planned to invade Ukraine, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said during a conference call with reporters:
"I find the wording of this question, 'if an invasion is being prepared', inappropriate as such."
The weapons being delivered there included Uragan multiple rocket launchers, tanks and self-propelled howitzers -- all weapon types that have been used in the conflict in eastern Ukraine between Kiev's forces and separatists.
The amount of military hardware at the base was about three times greater than in March this year, when Reuters journalists were previously in the area. At that time, only a few dozen pieces of equipment were in view.
Over the course of fours days starting on Saturday, Reuters saw four goods trains with military vehicles and troops arriving at a rail station in the Rostov region of southern Russia, with at least two trainloads traveling on by road to the base.
A large section of dirt road leading across the steppe from the Kuzminsky range to the Ukrainian border had been freshly repaired, making it more passable for heavy vehicles.
The road leads to a quiet border crossing typically only used by local residents. On the other side is Ukraine's Luhansk region, which is controlled by separatists and has been the scene of intense fighting. (more)
The funeral has been held of prominent Ukrainian separatist commander Aleksei Mozgovoi, who was killed in a mysterious gangland-style hit on May 23. The May 27 funeral was attended by members of his unit, the Ghost Battalion, and residents in rebel-held Alchevsk. It concluded with a volley of gunfire in his honor. Rebel leaders have said Kyiv was behind the attack, a drive-by killing in which his car was sprayed with bullets, but he was also known to have fallen out with Luhansk's self-proclaimed separatist leader, Igor Plotnitsky. Mozgovoi had survived several previous assassination attempts. (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service)
Russia moves to classify peacetime military losses:
Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree that classifies military losses while conducting special operations in peace time.
The decree on amendments to the 1995 presidential decree on data considered a state secret was published by Russia's website for legislative information on May 28.
Before the amendments, only information on Russian military losses during war time were considered to be a state secret.
According to the decree, information about individuals studied by Russia intelligence, counterintelligence, and operative services with the intention of using them as covert collaborators will also be defined as a state secret.
Previously, only information about people who had actually collaborated with Russian intelligence was classified.
The amendments come amid accusations that Russian troops are involved in clashes between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, which Moscow denies.