Internal Security News

• Ukrainian Interior Minister Arsen Avakov announced that state security forces recaptured and are in “full control” of the Donetsk airport following a lengthy operation that resulted in the death of an estimated 50 separatists. The losses of the National Guard amounted to up to five people throughout the entire forceful operation in southeastern Ukraine, the Interior Ministry said.
   
• The Ukrainian Prosecutor General's Office was investigating the attack carried out by unknown armed people at two posts in Donetsk region that killed three Ukrainian servicemen and injured nine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin claimed that casualties from the operation in Donetsk may reach 100, including “20-50 civilians.”
   
• (RIA Novosti) Ukrainian First Deputy Prime Minister Vitaliy Yarema said that there was no need to declare a state of emergency in Eastern Ukraine where military operations are currently under way.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Yarema also stated that the counter-terror operation will be carried on the east of Ukraine until all illegal armed formations are destroyed.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) A center for training of the illegal armed formations, who prepared subversive operations in a number of Ukrainian regions, was destroyed in Luhansk region.
   

Diplomacy News

• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian PM Yatsenyuk declared that “bilateral negotiations [with Russia] are not considered possible without the presence of the U.S .and the European Union.”
   
• Russian President Vladimir Putin called for an immediate halt to Ukraine's military operation against pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) Ukrainian President-elect Petro Poroshenko and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had a telephone conversation to discuss the development of relations between the two countries and also cooperation between Ukraine and the EU.
   
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that if Ukrainian President-elect Poroshenko succeeds in establishing dialogue with citizens of Ukraine, including with residents of the southeastern regions, he will find a serious and reliable partner in Russia. 
   
• Lavrov stated that Russia is hoping that the death of Russian interpreter Andrei Mironov and Italian journalist Andrea Rochelli will be immediately investigated in Ukraine.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Lavrov also stated that a visit to Russia by Ukraine’s president-elect Petro Poroshenko has not yet been discussed.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree announcing that an election for members of Crimea’s and Sevastopol’s legislative assembly planned for next year will instead be held on September 14.
   
• The Ukrainian government accused Russia of sending "terrorists" across its border after border guards clashed with armed men in the east of the country overnight on May 26-27.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Russian FM Lavrov said Western countries are busy looking for excuses to continue their pressure on Russia, but these excuses are “laughable.”
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russia's Ambassador to the EU Vladimir Chizhov told a Moscow-Brussels video bridge that time and more effort will be needed to overcome the current crisis in relations between Russia and the European Union over developments in Ukraine.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Negotiations to date on holding a meeting of the Russia-NATO Council in Brussels at the ambassador level have yielded no results so far, a source at the Russian Defense Ministry told ITAR-TASS.
   
• (RIA Novosti) Ukraine asked Russia to pay $1 billion for 2 billion cubic meters of natural gas stored at an underground facility belonging to Crimea's Black Sea oil and gas company Chernomorneftegaz.
   

International Observation Missions News

• The Estonian Foreign Ministry confirmed to the Interfax news agency that the OSCE team (including one Estonian) with which the organization has lost contact on May 27 was being held near Donetsk.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russia’s ambassador to the OSCE confirmed that no Russians are among the OSCE observers who went missing while traveling from Luhansk to Donetsk on May 26. ““Observers should not be made hostages, they should be released,” he said.
   
• (RIA Novosti) The OSCE said it had lost contact with one of its monitoring teams in the eastern Ukrainian city of Donetsk on the evening of May 26.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) Russian FM Lavrov stated that Ukraine’s parliament did not ratify a memorandum between Ukraine and the OSCE that ensures immunity of OSCE mission members. “Therefore, when OSCE mission employees get lost, there are no legal reasons to demand urgent measures to find them and ensure their security.”
   

Governance News 

• (ITAR-TASS) Petro Poroshenko remained the clear president-elect, holding nearly 55 percent of the 94 percent of votes counted.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The head of Ukraine’s Central Election Commission ruled out the possibility of the second round of presidential elections.
   
• (ITAR-TASS) The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic began switching over to Russian laws.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) PM Yatsenyuk announced that a deputy minister in charge of European integration issues will be assigned to each minister in the Ukrainian government.
   
• (Interfax Ukraine) The CEO of Russia’s Gazprom announced that Russia is waiting for Ukraine to pay off $2 billion in gas debt by Friday.