Here's an update from our news desk:
Two Ukrainian soldiers and three civilians have been reported killed in separate incidents in eastern Ukraine.
Ukrainian military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on June 11 that the two soldiers were killed and 13 other servicemen wounded over the previous day in attacks by Russian-backed separatists using heavy weapons.
A rebel defense official, Eduard Basurin, said three women died when Ukrainian forces shelled Horlivka, about 30 northeast of the rebel stronghold of Donetsk.
Monitors from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) have accused both Kyiv and separatist fighters of breaching a February cease-fire agreement that required the withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front line.
More than 6,400 people have been killed since fighting erupted in Ukraine's east in April 2014.
(AFP, Reuters)
Moscow maintains that it is not directly involved in the separatist conflict in Ukraine, but a steady flow of so-called volunteers from Russia are signing up to fight -- and some businesses are also contributing to the war effort. In Yekaterinburg, a businessman has turned his clothing factory over to producing uniforms for Ukrainian separatists and their Russian allies. (RFE/RL's Current Time TV program)
Here's today's map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
Our Belarus Service on Soviet/Russian evolution:
Moscow says U.S. forcing Kyiv to prolong conflict:
Russia has accused the United States of forcing Kyiv to continue the conflict in eastern Ukraine, where government forces have been battling Russian-backed separatists for more than a year.
In a statement on June 11, the Russian Foreign Ministry said Russia was not carrying out any "unusual military activity."
It also urged Washington to fully implement a treaty on eliminating intermediate-range and shorter-range missiles.
The statement comes after a U.S. State Department report accused Russia of violating its arms treaty obligations. (Reuters, TASS, Interfax)