Live Blog: Ukraine In Crisis (ARCHIVE)

That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Monday, June 29, 2015. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our continuing coverage.

Good morning.

We'll start the live blog today with an item from our news desk about John McCain who has been urging his country to stay away from Russian space rockets even though SpaceX is not exactly setting the world on fire. It's only of peripheral relevance to Ukraine, but it's interesting how the fallout from the crisis is having an impact on areas that wouldn't autoimatically spring to mind:

The failure of a SpaceX rocket over the weekend should not prompt U.S. officials to consider purchasing Russian-made rockets again to get military equipment into space, a top lawmaker said on June 29.

"This mishap in no way diminishes the urgency of ridding ourselves of the Russian RD-180 rocket engine," said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain.

The United States last year placed tough new constraints on purchasing Russian-made engines for launching U.S. military satellites in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea and other aggressive moves in Ukraine.

The U.S. Air Force recently advertised for U.S. companies to supply rocket engines, and the up-and-coming SpaceX was considered likely to win a contract.

But on June 28, an unmanned SpaceX rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station exploded after liftoff in Florida, raising questions about its readiness.

McCain said Elon Musk's company is still in contention, however.

"I am confident that this minor setback will in no way impede the future success of SpaceX and its ability to support U.S. national security space missions," he said.

(Reuters, AP)

Here's a photo gallery compiled by our multimedia department, featuring shots of a Ukrainian battalion in the east of the country:

Six kilometers from the separatist-controlled city of Horlivka, Ukrainian forces of the 17th Army Battalion are holding their positions in the small town of Dzerzhynsk. The soldiers say that machine guns and mortar strikes can be heard almost every night, and that separatist fighters have approached within a few hundred meters of their camp. Their time is spent waiting for their next orders, or the next outbreak of violence. (Photos by James Sprankle)

Six kilometers from the separatist-controlled city of Horlivka, Ukrainian forces of the 17th Army Battalion are holding their positions in the small town of Dzerzhynsk. The soldiers say that machine guns and mortar strikes can be heard almost every night, and that separatist fighters have approached within a few hundred meters of their camp. Their time is spent waiting for their next orders, or the next outbreak of violence. (Photos by James Sprankle)