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| Presidents of Russia and France to discuss Ukraine crisis in Paris | Presidents of Russia and France to discuss Ukraine crisis in Paris |
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| The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will discuss the crisis in Ukraine at talks with his French counterpart, François Hollande, in Paris on 5 June, the Kremlin has said. | The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will discuss the crisis in Ukraine at talks with his French counterpart, François Hollande, in Paris on 5 June, the Kremlin has said. |
| The talks will be held at the Elysée Palace in Paris on the eve of a second world war anniversary, and will be Putin's first meeting with the head of a government or state of a major western power since Russia's annexation of Crimea in March. | |
| "The presidents of the two countries will hold talks on fundamental international and bilateral issues, including the Ukraine crisis," said the Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov. | |
| The announcement comes a day after separatists in east Ukraine counted dozens of losses after fierce fighting with Ukrainian government forces for control of Donetsk airport. | The announcement comes a day after separatists in east Ukraine counted dozens of losses after fierce fighting with Ukrainian government forces for control of Donetsk airport. |
| Representatives of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic said they had lost around 50 fighters in Monday's clashes, while the Kiev-appointed mayor of Donetsk, Oleksandr Lukyanchenko, said there were around 40 dead, including two civilians. He claimed that many of the dead were Russian citizens. | |
| The government has intensified the "anti-terrorism operation" in the east since the victory of the businessman Petro Poroshenko in presidential elections on Sunday. | |
| Poroshenko, who will formally take over in early June from the interim government which has been in place since the former president, Viktor Yanukovych, fled Ukraine three months ago, has already said the operation should last not weeks or months, but be over "in a matter of hours". Russia has said it is open for dialogue with Poroshenko but has repeatedly called for Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the east. | Poroshenko, who will formally take over in early June from the interim government which has been in place since the former president, Viktor Yanukovych, fled Ukraine three months ago, has already said the operation should last not weeks or months, but be over "in a matter of hours". Russia has said it is open for dialogue with Poroshenko but has repeatedly called for Ukraine to withdraw its troops from the east. |
| Following a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, EU heads of state and government called on Moscow to "use its leverage on the armed separatists to de-escalate the situation in eastern Ukraine". | Following a meeting in Brussels on Tuesday, EU heads of state and government called on Moscow to "use its leverage on the armed separatists to de-escalate the situation in eastern Ukraine". |
| Russian troops should also continue to withdraw from areas near Ukraine, where Nato has said they have been exerting a coercive influence, the EU leaders said. | Russian troops should also continue to withdraw from areas near Ukraine, where Nato has said they have been exerting a coercive influence, the EU leaders said. |
| Rebels are still in control of a number of government buildings in Donetsk and other cities in the region, which have been occupied for more than a month. However, the airport appeared to be a red line for the Ukrainian authorities, and when a group of around 200 fighters attempted to seize it in the early hours of Monday morning they met with serious resistance, including air strikes. | Rebels are still in control of a number of government buildings in Donetsk and other cities in the region, which have been occupied for more than a month. However, the airport appeared to be a red line for the Ukrainian authorities, and when a group of around 200 fighters attempted to seize it in the early hours of Monday morning they met with serious resistance, including air strikes. |
| Ukrainian media have widely reported that "Kadyrovtsy" – the feared forces loyal to Kremlin-backed Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov – are involved in the fighting. There have indeed been many sightings of fighters from the North Caucasus in the region, but it is unclear whether they are volunteers or semi-official battalions sent by the Kremlin or its proxies. | |
| In a statement posted on Wednesday on Instagram, Kadyrov denied sending troops to fight alongside pro-Russia insurgents in eastern Ukraine, but said some Chechens may have gone there on their own. | |
| He said two-thirds of 3 million Chechens lived outside the province in Russia's North Caucasus mountains, so he "can't and must not know where each of them goes". |