Good morning. We'll start the live log today with this item from our news desk about Russian military exercises, which some will probably view as a provocation:
The Russian Defense Ministry says that its air forces have begun a massive exercise involving hundreds of aircraft and thousands of service personnel.
In a May 25 statement, the ministry described the four-day drill as a "massive surprise inspection," to check combat readiness.
"The inspection involves about 12,000 military service personnel, as well as up to 250 planes and helicopters and 689 various weapons and pieces of military hardware," the statement said.
The manoeuvers began on the same day as NATO and some of its partners started an Arctic training exercise.
Russia's involvement in Ukraine and incursions into Western airspace have led to rising tensions with the West.
A ministry spokesperson said that, during the inspection, "Long-range aviation aircraft will carry out cruise missile strikes against a mock enemy's ground targets at the Pemboi test and training area (in the Komi Republic)."
Asked about Russia's assertiveness in a television interview, Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin joked that "tanks don't need visas."
Rogozin is himself on EU and U.S. blacklists as part of sanctions imposed following Russia's annexation of Crimea last year.
(Interfax-AVN, BBC)
Barring any major developments, that closes the live blog for today.
More from our news desk on the hostage-taking in eastern Ukraine:
A gunman who took three hostages in northeast Ukraine has been killed and his captives freed unharmed.
The Interior Ministry said the 48-year-old man had shot dead two people with a rifle in the town of Lyubotin in the Kharkiv region and then drove to a gasoline station station where he took hostages.
Interfax Ukraine quoted regional governor Ihor Rainin as telling journalists the "criminal has been killed," without disclosing further details.
The area is a considerable distance from the conflict zone where government forces are fighting Russian-backed separatists and police appeared to be treating the incident as purely criminal.
(WATCH: RFE/RL Ukrainian Service Journalists Assaulted)
Journalists from RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service were assaulted by an unknown man while filming at a company headquarters near Odesa. The team were investigating a $3 million tender for vehicle license plates, which has been won by a company with no previous record of making licence plates. During the assault, captured on camera, a journalist warns the man he'll call the police. The man says "fine, call the police." The camera was damaged during the incident.
Here is a map of the latest military situation in the Donbas region today -- issued by Ukraine's Defense Ministry (click image to enlarge):
