Latest reports of separatist infighting:
Putin talking about Ukraine on his annual live question-and-answer show:
Putin Says No Grounds For New U.S. Sanctions Against Russia
By RFE/RL
Russian President Vladimir Putin says there is no cause for the new sanctions against Moscow that are under consideration in the U.S. Congress and that the aim of Western sanctions is to hold Russia back.
Putin addressed the issue early in his annual televised question-and-answer show on June 15.
He spoke less than 24 hours after the U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly to cement existing economic sanctions imposed on Russia for its actions in Ukraine and impose new ones in response to Moscow's alleged meddling in last year's election campaign.
The amendment passed as part of a larger measure that targets Iran for sanctions and the overall legislation faces further votes in the Senate and House of Representatives.
Putin said there was no cause to impose new sanctions on Russia and asserted that the initiative was the result of internal U.S. political struggles -- remarks that echoed earlier Russian criticism of Western sanctions.
He said such measures are aimed to "contain Russia" and hold it back.
The United States and European Union have imposed a series of sanctions on Russia over its armed takeover of Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and its backing for separatists in a war that has killed more than 10,000 people in eastern Ukraine.
With reporting by dpa and Reuters
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council:
