Internal Security News

• The New York Times reported that Ukrainian border guards abandoned their posts in the face of attacks from pro-Russian separatists, leaving Ukraine’s borders with Russia undefended and fully open. The city of Luhansk, it alleged, is nearly totally under rebel control.  
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service closed a number of checkpoints on its border with Russia in the Luhansk region.
   
• Separatist rebels took two Ukrainian military bases in the eastern region of Luhansk as fighting continues near the rebel-held town of Sloviansk.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic alleged that Ukraine’s President-elect Petro Poroshenko plans to “do the dirtiest work” in the eastern parts of the country before his inauguration.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The parliament of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic issued an appeal to compatriots abroad, in which it asks them to provide aid.
   

Diplomacy News

• The G7 leaders meeting in Brussels said they were fully behind Petro Poroshenko. The summit's EU hosts defended Ukraine's "constitutional right" to restore order in the east, and called on Russia to stop interfering in Ukraine and take steps to de-escalate the situation.
   
• President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy stated that Ukraine has every right to conduct a military operation in the south and east of the country.
   
• President Obama and allies said Russia has a chance to begin to resolve the Ukrainian crisis and rebuild trust with the West, but they warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that his country would face harsher sanctions if he fails to take steps to de-escalate the situation.
   
• (RIA Novosti) US Secretary of State John Kerry urged Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko to prove that Russia is involved in the independence movement in the eastern regions of Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russia’s president Putin met British Prime Minister David Cameron and French leader Francois Hollande on June 5, the Kremlin press service said. On Friday, June 6, Vladimir Putin will meet German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Moscow raised the issue of Kyiv using heavy armaments in its special operations against independence supporters in eastern Ukraine at an OSCE session.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian ambassador to Kyiv Mikhail Zurabov was scheduled attend the inauguration of Petro Poroshenko as Ukrainian president on June 7, marking his return to duties in Kyiv. 
   
• US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel said that the United States will strengthen its presence in the Black Sea region using part of a $1 billion fund promised to NATO allies on Russia's borders, and will continue to send warships to the area.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) German Chancellor Angela Merkel stated that the West seeks the settlement of the situation in Ukraine through talks with Russia and diplomatic contacts, not through threats.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russia’s Border Guard Service said that all the checkpoints on Russia’s border with Ukraine in the southern Rostov Region are operating in a normal mode.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian PM Mednedev stated that Russia has already received around 4,000 Ukrainian refugees. “People are frightened, scared. At the same time, the Ukrainian government fails to notice a humanitarian problem, says there are no refugees. It’s lies and it’s sad to hear it.”
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich dismissed as “baseless” Kiev’s allegations of Russian arms supplies to independence supporters in eastern Ukraine.
   

International Observation Missions News

• (ITAR-TASS) The OSCE has ‘practically withdrawn ‘all its observers from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
   

Governance News 

• The Ukrainian Interior Ministry designated the 'people's governor' of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic, Pavlo Hubarev, and the 'prime minister' of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, Vasyl Nikitin as “wanted”.