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Added on the 18/08/2015 19:01:53 - Copyright : Reuters EN
The death toll rises in Ukraine's east as fighting between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian separatists intensifies, after peace talks collapse. Gavino Garay reports.
Several civilians and soldiers are dead in Ukraine, and some 66 soldiers reported wounded, as fighting for control of the airport near rebel-held Donetsk intensifies. Mana Rabiee reports.
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at a lavish ceremony on Red Square following a landslide victory in his country’s presidential elections. The concert marks the tenth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine, when Moscow formally recognised the peninsula as a federal subject. IMAGES
People respond to a call from opposition figure Yulia Navalnaya to turn up at polling stations at midday Moscow time (0900 GMT) in a form of protest that attempts to overwhelm them. Before his death in an Arctic prison last month, opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who galvanised mass anti-Putin rallies, had urged Russians to protest on March 17. The polling station is where opposition leader Alexei Navalny was registered. IMAGES
Sweden joining NATO shows Russian President Vladimir Putin "failed" in his Ukrainian war strategy of weakening the alliance, its chief Jens Stoltenberg says. The Kremlin's invasion not only prompted formerly non-aligned nations Sweden and Finland to come under NATO's defence umbrella, but now "Ukraine is closer to NATO membership than ever before," Stoltenberg adds. SOUNDBITE
U.S. President Barack Obama attends an outdoor arrival ceremony in heavy rain, as the first sitting U.S. president to visit Laos. Rough Cut (no reporter narration).