Fresh casualties in Ukraine:
Five people have been killed in eastern Ukraine despite the ongoing cease-fire.
The Ukrainian military said on June 1 that three soldiers were killed and four wounded in fighting in the past 24 hours.
It also said two Ukrainian soldiers had been captured outside the village of Maryinka.
According to the pro-Russian rebels, two civilians were killed and five injured in shelling on May 31.
One of the fatalities was reported in the village of Shyrokyne, which has witnessed heavy fighting in recent weeks.
The fresh reports of casualties come as the UN human rights office said the number of people killed in more than a year of fighting in the east has risen to more than 6,400 people.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Raad al-Hussein said there were "alarming reports of summary executions by armed groups" and his office was "looking into similar allegations against Ukrainian armed forces." (AP, AFP)
NATO flexes muscles in Baltics, Poland
Vilnius, June 1, 2015 (AFP) -- US-led NATO drills began Monday in the Baltic states and Poland, a move intended to reassure Russia's nervous neighbours amid tensions over Ukraine.
Russia's increased military presence in the Baltic Sea and regional airspace since its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine last year has jangled nerves in the area, which lay behind the Iron Curtain 25 years ago.
More than 6,000 troops from 13 NATO countries are participating in the Saber Strike 2015 drills in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, all EU and NATO members.
"This is one of the biggest exercises in Lithuania since we joined NATO" in 2004, Major General Almantas Leika, commander of Lithuania's land forces, told reporters in Vilnius.
"The huge allied presence demonstrates solidarity with the countries of this region," he said, adding that Lithuania is hosting the command centre for the drills.
NATO has been guarding the skies over the three small Baltic states since 2004, when they joined the defence alliance but lacked the air power to monitor their own airspace.
Last month, the Baltic trio formally asked NATO to permanently deploy several thousand troops in their region as a deterrent to Russia.
NATO has not yet replied to the request, military spokesman Lithuanian Captain Mindaugas Neimontas told AFP.
The exercises, organised by the US Army in Europe, will run until June 19 and include Abrams tanks and B-52 bombers, General Leika said.
The drills take place after Russia last week began conducting unexpected war games involving 12,000 troops and 250 aircraft, at the same time as NATO planes joined Nordic air forces for a drill in Sweden's sub-Arctic north.
More than 6,400 killed amid 'tremendous hardship' in Ukraine says UN
Geneva, June 1, 2015 (AFP) -- The United Nations said Monday that more than 6,400 people had been killed in conflict-wracked Ukraine, and despite a slowdown in fighting, millions more are suffering from abuses and hardship.
In its latest report, the UN human rights office noted that an overall decrease in indiscriminate shelling since a fragile truce was agreed in Minsk in February had resulted in a decrease in civilian casualties.
But nonetheless, at least 6,417 people have perished from the beginning of the conflict in mid-April 2014 through May 30, 2015, including at least 626 women and girls, while another 15,962 had been wounded, it said.
"This is a conservative estimate and the actual numbers could be considerably higher," the rights office said in a statement.
Some five million others are meanwhile suffering the consequences of the conflict, including 1.2 million people who have been displaced inside the war-ravaged country, the report said.
"Even with the decrease in hostilities, civilians continue to be killed and wounded," UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said.
Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (CLICK TO ENLARGE):
Moscow Says Blacklist of EU's Kremlin Critics Not Politically Motivated
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Aleksei Meshkov on June 1 rejected Western criticism of the Kremlin’s European Union blacklist, saying that the entry ban against 89 politicians from 17 EU countries was not politically motivated.
Meshkov said the “sole purpose” of the blacklist against staunch Kremlin critics in the EU “is to make somewhat easier the life of persons on that list.”
He said Moscow’s confidence in the EU has been undermined by complaints about the ban from Brussels.
Tensions are high between Moscow and the West over Russia's seizure and annexation of Crimea in March 2014 and its support for pro-Russian separatists in eastern Ukraine.
The EU has imposed sanctions, including asset freezes and travel bans, on 151 Russians and pro-Russian Ukrainians.
EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on May 30 that the Kremlin’s blacklist was “totally arbitrary and unjustified, especially in the absence of any further clarification and transparency."