UN: Conflict escalating amid cease-fire violations
By RFE/RL
A United Nations report says hostilities have been escalating in eastern Ukraine in recent months because parties to the armed conflict there have "repeatedly failed to implement cease-fire agreements."
The report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on June 13 says cease-fire violations on both Ukrainian armed forces and Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine have allowed "hostilities to escalate and claim more lives as the conflict moved into its fourth year."
The report says that since the conflict began in mid-April of 2014, at least 10,090 people have been killed -- included 2,777 civilians. It said at least 23,966 people have been injured and more than 1.6 million people displaced by the fighting.
The report says the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine recorded 36 conflict-related civilian deaths and 157 injuries from February 16 to May 15 -- a 48 percent increase on the previous three months.
It also says people continue to be abducted, unlawfully deprived of freedom, and held incommunicado -- particularly in districts controlled by Russia-backed separatists.
It also says torture has persisted, with new incidents recorded on both sides of the contact line.
The OHCHR also expresses concern that, after three years, none of the senior officials responsible for deaths during antigovernment protests in Kyiv and violence in Odesa have been brought to account.
Ukraine's embassy in Kazakhstan irked by maps showing Crimea as Russia:
By RFE/RL
Ukraine's Kazakh Embassy has lodged a protest over maps near an international energy exposition in Astana that show Ukraine's occupied Crimean Peninsula as part of Russia.
The maps are part of decorative statues on Nurzhol Boulevard outside of EXPO 2017, a three-month exposition that began on June 10 with Russian President Vladimir Putin in attendance.
One statue is holding a map of Ukraine that does not include the territory of Crimea. Another holds a map of Russia that includes Crimea.
The Ukrainian Embassy wrote on Facebook on June 12 that the map of Ukraine was shown "with elements in violation of the country's territorial integrity," and the map of Russia was shown "with elements that violate Ukraine's territorial integrity."
The Ukrainian Embassy said it expected explanations from Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry.
Russia seized control of Crimea in 2014 after sending in troops and staging a referendum considered illegitimate by Ukraine and more than 100 other countries in the United Nations.
About Ukrainian Army advancing:
ICYMI:
This ends our live blogging for June 12. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.