Internal Security News

• (Interfax Ukraine) The truce in the east of Ukraine remained under strain as it was set to expire in the evening of June 30. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko prolonged a truce in the east of Ukraine until 2200 Kyiv time on June 30 in keeping with a decision by the National Security and Defense Council (NSDC).
   
• Five Ukrainian army servicemen died and at least 17 were injured in a 24-hour period from June 29-30.
   
• A military base in Donetsk came under the command of the militants in the self-declared 'Donetsk People's Republic' on Sunday, June 29.
   
• A Russian state TV cameraman was also shot dead while reporting in Donetsk overnight on June 29. Russia's Channel One TV said that Anatoly Klyan, 68, was fatally wounded in the stomach when shots were fired by Ukrainian troops near a military base. He was reporting on pro-Russian separatists in the area. He was the third Russian TV journalist to be killed in Ukraine this month.
   
• Pro-Russian separatists in Donetsk took over the website of an independent journalist's union, announcing that a separatist-friendly "action group" will create a new trade association in its place.
   

Diplomacy News

• The leaders of Ukraine, Russia, Germany and France were set to hold more talks to resolve the conflict in east Ukraine. Germany and France urged Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to extend a ceasefire with pro-Russian separatists - due to end on the evening of June 30 - for a second time.
   
• "The death of a Russian journalist again convincingly demonstrates that Ukrainian forces clearly do not want a de-escalation of the conflict in the east of the country," the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement, following the death of Channel One TV reporter Anatoly Klyan in Donetsk.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian investigators on Monday launched a criminal case over the killing of Russian TV cameraman Anatoly Klyan in Ukraine’s eastern republic of Donetsk.
   
• Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko instructed State Border Guard Service Head Mykola Lytvyn to hold urgent consultations with Russian Border Service officials to negotiate a mechanism of ensuring effective control over the Ukrainian-Russian border.
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian refugees seeking shelter in Russian temporary accommodation centers exceeded 17, 000 people, according to a spokesman for the Russian Emergencies Ministry.
   
•  (RIA Novosti) The European Council said on June 27 it would give Moscow three days to de-escalate the situation in Ukraine, or it will impose new sanctions against Russia.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on June 27 that Moscow would welcome a longer truce between the warring parties in Ukraine, but warned it should not resemble a “postponement of ultimatum.”
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a bill that imposes prison terms for sponsoring extremism and for inciting extremist activities on the internet.
   

International Observation Missions

• The four members of the OSCE’s Special Monitoring Mission abducted on May 29 in Luhansk were set free by their separatist captors late on June 28 after one month in detention.
   
• Russian President Vladimir Putin held prolonged telephone talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and with his French and Ukrainian counterparts Francois Hollande and Petro Poroshenko, during which they discussed a plan to send OSCE inspectors to the Russian-Ukrainian border.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The OSCE announced that it may completely resume the activities of observers’ mission in Ukraine only after the security conditions improve.
   

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