Some talks info from RFE/RL's news desk:
A Kremlin aide says Russian President Vladimir Putin and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will discuss the crisis in Ukraine at talks in Moscow on May 10.
Merkel will not attend a military parade on Red Square on May 9 commemorating the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two in Europe.
The event is being shunned by Western leaders angered by Russia's role in the conflict in Ukraine.
But Kremlin foreign policy adviser Yuri Ushakov said Merkel will be in Moscow for events on May 10 marking the victory over Nazi Germany and will hold a news conference with Putin.
Merkel and French President Francois Hollande helped broker a cease-fire between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine on February 12 but it has been violated many times.
Ushakov said 27 heads of state or government will attend the military parade and Putin has talks scheduled with many of them, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian President Pranab Mukherjee, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, and Cuban leader Raul Castro.
(Reuters, TASS)
Here's a rather moving video from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service:
Ukrainian military veteran Ivan Zaluzhniy has witnessed the tragedies of two wars separated by seven decades. He served in the Soviet Red Army and fought in Stalingrad during the deadliest battle of World War II. In August 2014, Zaluzhniy's grandson, also a soldier, was killed in fighting in eastern Ukraine. Zaluzhniy spoke with RFE/RL's Iryna Shtogrin on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe and made an emotional plea for peace.
From our news desk:
An independent Russian newspaper has published what it said was a report by Russian military engineers suggesting a Malaysian airliner shot down in Ukraine was hit by a Russian-made surface-to-air BUK missile fired by Ukrainian forces.
Novaya Gazeta said on May 6 that the report did not prove whether Ukrainian forces or the pro-Moscow rebels they are fighting had shot down Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 on July 17, killing all 298 people aboard.
Each side in the conflict in eastern Ukraine accuses the other of bringing down the plane, on which two-thirds of the victims were Dutch.
Dutch prosecutors say the "leading scenario" in their probe is that MH17 was hit by a BUK missile and are testing the theory it was fired from a separatist-held area.
Russian officials initially said the plane was hit by a Ukrainian fighter jet.
Kyiv has dismissed Russian allegations that its forces shot down the airliner.
(Reuters, novayagazeta.ru)