Kyiv says two soldiers killed in latest fighting:
Ukraine's military says two of its soldiers have been killed and six wounded in fighting between government forces and separatists in the country's east.
Military spokesman Andriy Lysenko said on June 21 that the casualties were caused by mortar fire and shelling in the Donetsk region during the previous 24 hours.
"Armed hostilities have risen significantly" around the port city of Mariupol, Lysenko added. "The area of our positions being shelled has increased."
Meanwhile, the pro-Russian separatists said one civilian was killed and at least another wounded, accusing government troops of shelling residential areas of Donetsk and other rebel-held towns.
Fighting has killed more than 6,400 people in eastern Ukraine since April 2014.
In recent weeks, Kyiv and rebels have accused each other of increasing attacks despite a cease-fire agreement signed in Minsk in February.
The foreign ministers of Russia, Ukraine, Germany, and France are due to meet in Paris on June 23 to try to salvage the accord. (AFP, Reuters)
Here is today's map of the military situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
This ends our live-blogging for June 21. Be sure to check back tomorrow for our continuing coverage.
Russia's Patrushev Says U.S. Engineered Ukrainian 'Coup'
By RFE/RL
A senior Russian security official says the United States spent $5 billion on a "destabilization project in Ukraine" in order to "create an instrument to weaken Russia dramatically."
Russian Security Council Chairman Nikolai Patrushev made the comments in an interview published in Kommersant on June 22. He added that the United States is also "seeking to solve the task of keeping the European Union countries on a short lease by imposing anti-Russia sanctions and approaches on them."
Patrushev also said that, although Russia is "rendering support to Ukrainian refugees," "it is not expedient [for Moscow] to get involved in the civil conflict [there]."
Kyiv and Western countries have asserted that Russian military forces are active in eastern Ukraine and that Russia is providing military and other support to separatists in the region.