Video: Two Nights Under Fire In Eastern Ukraine
During a week embedded with the Ukrainian army, Mykhaylo Shtekel from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service spent two days and two nights under fire in the trenches of the 92nd mechanized brigade near Shchastya (which means "happiness"), a town in eastern Ukraine which changed hands in fighting with Russian-backed separatists last summer. The attacks, on May 25-26, took place at the same checkpoint where the unit captured two alleged members of Russian special forces a few days earlier.
U.S. Downplays Flyover of Warship By Russian Bombers
The Pentagon took the unusual step of releasing a video June 1 of a Russian Su-24 bomber flying past a U.S. warship in the Black Sea to dispel what it called inaccurate reports in the Russian media.
In the video, a Su-24 aircraft zooms by the USS Ross, a guided-missile destroyer, while other Russian bombers not depicted also flew within sight of the ship, officials said.
The U.S. Navy posted the video "because we were unsatisfied with the press reporting, and we wanted to show exactly what happened," Pentagon spokesman Colonel Steven Warren said.
Some Russian media said the Russian aircraft had forced the American destroyer to shift course away from Russian territorial waters off the coast of Crimea.
But those reports were "erroneous," as the USS Ross was in international waters and "never changed course," Warren said.
Moreover, none of the Russian aircraft that flew by the ship were armed and neither side took any aggressive action, he said.
Based on reporting by AFP and CNN
This ends our live blogging for June 1. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.