Strelkov's order to execute two rebels in Slavyansk for looting, based on a Soviet decree from 1941. Note the stamp. pic.twitter.com/B0EBTRyYvv
— max seddon (@maxseddon) May 28, 2014
Multiply reports of explosions in #Donetsk & #Slovyansk as Ukrainian army moves on w/ another attempt to push back against pro-Russia rebels
— Maxim Eristavi (@MaximEristavi) May 28, 2014
Ukraine's government has tasked acting Defense Minister Mykhaylo Koval with signing an agreement to create the joint brigade.
Koval said yesterday that he expects an agreement to be signed next month.
He said that by working jointly with NATO members Poland and Lithuania, Ukraine's military could bring its performance up to NATO standards.
He said the Ukrainian part of the joint brigade will be based in the western city of Lviv. It will perform joint tasks and participate in peacekeeping missions.
The announcement comes amid tensions between Russia and the West over the crisis in eastern Ukraine. Poland and Lithuania have long pushed for closer military ties with Ukraine.
Russia has said Moscow's big concern is that Ukraine will eventually join NATO.
People seek shelter underground in #Donetsk but no actual shooting, as @RolandOliphant reports pic.twitter.com/9HY5PgJjqE
— Maxim Eristavi (@MaximEristavi) May 28, 2014
Putin will meet Hollande on the eve of events to mark a World War II anniversary.
It would be Putin's first meeting with the leader of a major Western power after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea in March.
Yuri Ushakov also said that what he described as the Ukrainian government's "provocative" military actions in eastern Ukraine push the crisis further into deadlock.
Meanwhile, the Reuters news agency quotes a NATO military officer as saying that Russia has withdrawn thousands of troops from areas near the Ukrainian border but that tens of thousands remain.
NATO previously estimated that Russia had amassed 40,000 troops on Ukraine's border.
Meanwhile, in an interview with Germany's "Bild" daily, Petro Poroshenko, who won Ukraine's presidential election, says "a real war is being waged" against Ukraine. "We will end this terror," he said.
Reports of renewed and heavy gunfire in Donetsk and Slavyansk. These terrorists aren't going to go easily. Putin will test Poroshenko
— bruce springnote (@BSpringnote) May 28, 2014
#Klitschko leading in Kyiv mayoral election with over half ballots tabulated http://t.co/8QwSTtUK8X
— Kyiv Post (@KyivPost) May 28, 2014
.@OSCE in #Ukraine says there is still no contact with a monitoring team that went missing in the #Donetsk region on May 27.
— Just Hovens Greve (@JustHovensGreve) May 28, 2014
Für das nächste Mal, wenn Dir jemand etwas über Faschisten in der #Ukraine erzählt > @Afelia https://t.co/2Jek6CIyMb pic.twitter.com/cDXBPu9j7l
— Dirk Emmerich (@DEmmerich) May 28, 2014