Poroshenko has signed off on the nullification of Russian military agreements:
Ukraine's president has signed into law measures renouncing five bilateral defense-cooperation agreements between Ukraine and Russia.
President Petro Poroshenko signed the measures on June 8 after they were adopted by Ukraine's parliament on May 21, according to a statement on the presidential website.
The nullified agreements include one on the transit across Ukraine of Russian military personnel stationed "in the Republic of Moldova."
Russia maintains troops and peacekeepers in Moldova's breakaway region of Transdniester, although the Moldovan government has repeatedly asked for them to be removed.
The other voided pacts include one on "organizing military interstate transportation," "on mutual protection of secret information," "on military-intelligence cooperation," and "on defense cooperation."
Ukraine has been fighting Russian-backed separatists in the eastern part of the country and claims there are thousands of Russian military personnel operating on Ukrainian territory.
Russia denies that its military is directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine. (Interfax, ITAR-TASS)
Mine kills seven Ukrainian soldiers:
Seven Ukrainian servicemen have been killed in eastern Ukraine when a truck they were travelling in struck a land mine.
The incident happened on June 8 about 15 kilometers outside of the city of Donetsk, which is a stronghold of Russia-backed separatists, according to a Facebook statement by the Ukrainian military.
The statement said the truck hit an antitank mine planted by the separatists. The separatists have made no statement on the incident.
Kyiv says more than 100 Ukrainian military personnel and some 50 civilians have been killed in eastern Ukraine since a cease-fire deal was signed in Minsk in February.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) Monitoring Mission in eastern Ukraine says violations of the truce are becoming increasingly frequent and severe. (AP, AFP)