Here are some more details from our news desk on the Ukraine Contact Group's efforts to ensure an Easter cease-fire:
Trilateral Contact Group Seeks Easter Cease-Fire In Ukraine
The Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine says it aims for a cease-fire in eastern Ukraine to begin with the start of the Easter and May holidays.
The group, which comprises representatives from Ukraine, Russia, and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), said in Minsk that it will work for the cease-fire to become effective on April 30 at midnight local time.
The Contact Group issued a statement on April 29 saying all members have agreed that their "respective orders with regard to total compliance with the ceasefire will be communicated to all responsible persons on the ground."
The announcement comes a day after the OSCE warned that violence in the war zone in eastern Ukraine had reached levels not seen for months.
A peace deal co-signed by France and Germany in February 2015 in Minsk was meant to end the fighting, but the two-year war has now killed more than 9,300 people as the sides trade blame for truce violations.
The United Nations on April 28 raised its estimate of the total killed during the conflict in eastern Ukraine to 9,333 from 9,160 in March.
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs Taye-Brook Zerihoun told the UN Security Council that the total number of casualties now stands at 30,729, including 9,333 people killed and 21,396 injured.
Ukraine told the UN Security Council on April 28 that its cease-fire with separatists in the east must be strengthened before progress can be achieved on a political solution to the conflict.
It was the first council meeting on Ukraine since December.
With reporting by Interfax and AFP
Meanwhile in Crimea (from the Crimea Desk of RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service):
RFE/RL Contributor In Crimea Accused Of Calls For Separatism
Officials in Russia-annexed Crimea have charged Mykola Semena, a contributor to a news site about Crimea run by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), with calling for separatism.
Semena's lawyer Emil Kuberdinov told RFE/RL on April 29 that Crimea's Moscow-backed Prosecutor-General's Office made the charge against the journalist on April 28.
Kuberdinov added that Semena refused to answer investigators' questions, citing his rights under Russian law not to testify against himself.
The Moscow-backed Prosecutor-General's Office said on April 19 that Semena was being investigated over alleged "calls for undermining Russian territorial integrity via mass media."
Police then detained Semena for questioning and subsequently released him.
However, he was ordered not to leave Crimea while investigations are underway.
The United States, the EU, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and international media-freedom organizations have expressed concerns over Semena's case and condemned a clampdown on independent media on the annexed peninsula.
After Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in March 2014, the Russian parliament passed a law making it a criminal offense to question Russia's territorial integrity.