Kyiv says 5 soldiers killed in fighting:
Ukraine says five of its soldiers were killed and 39 wounded on June 3 in fighting between government forces and Russian-backed separatists in the country's east.
Yuriy Biryukov said on Facebook on June 4 that most casualties were reported near the town of Maryinka, west of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.
Kyiv says the separatists, using tanks and artillery, tried to take government positions there, in violation of a tenuous internationally brokered peace deal.
Ukraine's military says the offensive forced it to use artillery that had been removed under the Minsk II agreement as part of an effort to create a demilitarized zone.
The deal has served as the basis for a shaky cease-fire since February.
The rebels blamed government troops for the fighting and said 15 civilians and separatist fighters died in shelling by government forces. (Reuters, Interfax)
President Petro Poroshenko has warned that there is a "colossal threat" of renewed, large-scale military operations in eastern Ukraine. (Interfax, Reuters)
More on Poroshenko's warning:
President Petro Poroshenko has warned that there is what he called a “colossal threat” of resumption of “large-scale” fighting in eastern Ukraine.
In his annual address to parliament on June 4, Poroshenko also said that Ukraine’s military must be ready to defend the country against "a full-scale invasion along the whole length of the border with Russia."
He added that more than 9,000 Russian soldiers were currently in Ukraine.
Kyiv and the West accuse Russia of backing pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine, which Moscow denies. (AFP, Reuters, Interfax)