Yanukovych treason trial adjourns:
By RFE/RL
The in-absentia treason trial of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych has been quickly adjourned after formally opening in a courtroom in the capital, Kyiv.
His lawyer, Vitaly Serdyuk, said on June 26 that Yanukovych was eager to take part via video link, and "testify according to norms of international law." But Ukrainian authorities, according to Serdyuk, were not making this possible.
During the preliminary hearings, which started on May 5, Yanukovych's defense insisted that the court must formally ask Russia for assistance to set up a video link for his client, who is in Russia.
The court has rejected the request, saying Yanukovych can take part via any video link available on the Internet -- meaning that a formal request is not needed.
Yanukovych abandoned office in late February 2014 and fled to Russia in the face of protests triggered by his decision to scrap plans for a landmark deal with the European Union and improve trade ties with Moscow instead.
Dozens of people were killed when his government attempted to clamp down on the Euromaidan protests.
Yanukovych is accused of treason, violating Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and abetting Russian aggression.
After he fled, Russia seized Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and fomented separatism in eastern Ukraine, where a war between the government and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 10,000 people.
Ukraine's Poroshenko to meet Macron in Paris:
By RFE/RL
Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko is due to meet his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, in Paris on June 26.
During his working visit, Poroshenko will also hold talks with Prime Minister Edouard Philippe and Senate speaker Gerard Larcher, a statement on Portoshenko's presidential website said.
France, together with Germany, brokered the Minsk peace agreement signed by Russia and Ukraine in February 2015 in an attempt to put an end to the conflict between Kyiv and Moscow-backed separatists in the country's east.
The Minsk agreement called for a cease-fire, the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front lines, and constitutional reforms to give eastern Ukraine more autonomy.
However, the fighting has recently intensified in eastern Ukraine.
The United Nations says more than 10,000 people have been killed during the conflict since it began in April 2014.
Poroshenko's visit to Paris comes after European Union leaders last week agreed to extend the bloc's economic sanctions against Russia by six months.
The sanctions were first imposed by Brussels in 2014 as a response to Russian aggression in eastern Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea. (w/AFP, Interfax)
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Sunday, June 25. Check back here tomorrow for more of our continuing coverage.