Ukraine pressed German Chancellor Angela Merkel and other Western allies on Monday to help settle a pro-Russian uprising that has raged on in the industrial east despite Kiev's unilateral ceasefire.
The United States warned it would not accept any use of Russian troops in Ukraine as it confirmed that Moscow had redeployed "significant" military forces near the border.
NATO released photographs Saturday of what it said were suspected Russian tanks in eastern Ukraine, having warned earlier that confirmation of their presence would mark a "serious escalation" of the crisis.
Pro-Russian gunmen shot down a Ukranian military transport plane Saturday in the separatist east, killing all 49 people on board in the biggest single loss of life in the two-month insurgency.
Seven miners were killed and two others are missing after a gas explosion ripped through an underground coal mine in eastern Ukraine, authorities said.
Russian player Andrey Kumantsov has been banned from tennis for life after being found guilty of multiple match-fixing and gambling offences between 2010 and 2013, The Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) announced.
Ukraine's week of tough negotiations with Russia, aimed at ending a separatist insurgency and averting a gas cut-off, got off to a rocky start as a round of gas talks broke up early Tuesday without a deal.
A Russian court on Monday sentenced two men found guilty of the murder of prominent journalist Anna Politkovskaya to life imprisonment, and handed lengthy prison terms to three others involved in the killing.
A Ukrainian plane was shot down as fighting continued in the east of the country on Friday, amid signs the government was losing control of parts of its border with Russia.
Russia and Ukraine appeared to have made a long-awaited breakthrough in efforts to resolve a damaging crisis in their relations after conciliatory talks on the sidelines of Friday's D-Day anniversary ceremonies.