Hollande on the Mistral deal:
French President Francois Hollande has said a cease-fire and a political settlement in Ukraine are conditions for France to deliver the first of two Mistral-class warships to Russia.
Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Wales on September 4, Hollande said the contract to supply the vessels was neither cancelled nor suspended.
But he said the conditions for delivering the first ship, due to be handed over to Russia in October, did not exist.
France announced on September 3 that Moscow's aggressive actions in eastern Ukraine were the reasons for the decision not to deliver the warship, called the "Vladivostok."
France had come under strong public pressure from the United States and European partners to scrap the 1.2 billion euro ($1.6 billion), signed under former President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2011.
Wrapping up what we know from Mariupol:
Reports say Ukraine's forces and pro-Russian separatists have clashed on the outskirts of the southeastern Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Plumes of black smoke could be seen along the road from the rebel-held Ukrainian town of Novoazovsk to Mariupol, where a rebel convoy of tanks and armored vehicles was reported.
Ukrainian troops with tanks and other heavy weapons along with thousands of Mariupol citizens have prepared for the last several days to defend the port city from an attack.
Yuriy Sergeyev, the Ukrainian ambassador to the UN, said the rebel assault on Mariupol was repelled by Ukrainian forces and civilians but that fighting continued.
Oleksandr Danilyuk, an adviser to the Ukrainian defense minister, said Ukrainian forces inflicted casualties on the rebels.
A reporter for Ukraine's Hromadske TV tweeted that Ukrainian forces had also sustained casualties.
This just in from our news desk:
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the international community must impose tougher sanctions on Russia if it further intervenes in Ukraine.
Rasmussen, who spoke at the NATO summit in Wales on September 4 after meeting with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, said previous statements from Russia about cease-fires were "used as smokescreens for the continued destabilization of Ukraine."
Poroshenko, appearing with Rasmussen, said Russia has "brutally undermined" Ukrainian stability.
NATO also announced the creation of four trust funds worth 15 million euros ($20 million) to help Ukraine defend itself.
Rasmussen said that the trust funds will support Kyiv in logistics, cyberdefense, the rehabilitation of wounded troops, as well as command, control, and communication.
He said NATO will also advise Ukraine on defense reforms but will provide no lethal aid.
Rasmussen said NATO members pledged additional bilateral money to Ukraine.
This ends our live-blogging for September 4. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Good morning! Moscow begins the day with a time-honored tactic of import bans by its consumer-protection agency:
Russia says it is banning confectionary imports from two Ukrainian firms, Konti and AVK.
Russia's consumer watchdog said in a statement on September 5 that both companies had violated the law on consumer rights protection.
No further details were immediately available.
The announcement comes as the European Union and United States are expected to announce further sanctions against Russia for its intervention in eastern Ukraine.
Talks are also expected to start shortly in Minsk between Ukrainian officials and the pro-Russian rebels on a proposed cease-fire in eastern Ukraine. (Reuters, ITAR-TASS)
Fighting seems to be ramping up outside the southeastern city of Mariupol: