That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for today. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our continuing coverage.
Hundreds of Ukrainian right-wingers rally against govt
KIEV, Ukraine (AP) -- Hundreds of Ukrainian right-wingers were rallying in Kiev on Tuesday to protest against government policies in the wake of a deadly stand-off between radical nationalists and police in the country's west.
The radical Right Sector group was one of the most militant factions in the massive protests in Ukraine's capital that prompted pro-Russia President Viktor Yanukovych to flee the country in February 2014. Since the war broke out in eastern Ukraine between government forces and pro-Russia separatists several months later, the Right Sector has fought on the government side.
However, Right Sector militants keep running into disputes with local Ukrainian authorities and Amnesty International has accused the group of holding civilians as prisoners and torturing them. The activists claim they are trying to clamp down on corruption and nepotism but Ukrainian authorities accuse Right Sector of using violence to reach its goals.
Speaking Tuesday at the national Right Sector congress, group leader Dmytro Yarosh called for a referendum to impeach President Petro Poroshenko and his government.
Yarosh also called for the recognition of volunteer battalions and their right to carry arms as well as introducing martial law, which he said, will help defeat the rebels in the east.
Right Sector supporters gathered on Tuesday evening on Kiev's main square to support Yarosh's motion. Most of them were civilians and appeared to be unarmed, although some young men wore camouflage.
The Right Sector leader garnered about 1 percent of the vote in the May 2014 presidential election. His radical anti-Russian stance prompted the Kremlin to dismiss the uprising in Kiev as a neo-Nazi coup.
The Ukrainian government has attempted to rein in the volunteer battalions who often took frontline positions in eastern Ukraine where soldiers were reluctant to go by encouraging them to join the National Guard and police forces. In reality, hundreds of men in government-controlled eastern Ukraine still carry arms without any authorization.
Two Right Sector members were killed earlier this month after the group attacked police in the western city of Mukacheve with gunfire and grenades. Police responded and then surrounded some gunmen in a wooded area of Mukacheve and have been trying to negotiate their surrender since then.
Yarosh insists that the men were trying to confront policemen who he said were involved in a major smuggling business in the region.
In a sign that he does not control the men in Mukacheve, he said Tuesday he did not know for sure how many men were still out there but said it was likely to be nine. He also dismissed reports that Right Sector fighters are roaming the country with the arms they were given to fight the rebels in the east.
The stand-off in Mukacheve has caused a split in Right Sector with several dozen fighters quitting the battalion to join other battalions in protest.
Ukraine, rebels reach preliminary deal to broaden weapons withdrawal
MINSK, July 21 (Reuters) - Ukraine and pro-Russian separatists have reached a preliminary agreement to extend a pull-back of weapons in east Ukraine to include tanks and smaller weapons systems, the chairman of the OSCE security watchdog, Ivica Dacic, said on Tuesday.
Under a ceasefire agreement brokered in Minsk, Belarus, in February, weapons of over 100 mm calibre are meant to have already been withdrawn, but both sides accuse the other of continuing to use heavy artillery and casualties are reported almost daily.
The latest agreement on lighter weapons was reached at a meeting of the so-called "contact group" involving Ukraine, Russia and the separatists under the auspices of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Speaking in Minsk, Dacic said the deal still needed to be signed, but urged all sides to "completely cease attacking and respect a full ceasefire".
Earlier, separatists said a civilian and a rebel fighter had been killed in shelling by Ukrainian forces in the past 24 hours, while Ukraine's military reported a serviceman had been killed in rebel attacks.
More than 6,500 people have been killed since the conflict broke out in eastern Ukraine in April last year.
