TALLINN, June 9 - Estonian Foreign Minister Keit Pentus-Rosimannus called for stepping up Western sanctions against Russia and urges the U.S. to take long-term security measures in the region in light of the ongoing Ukraine crisis.

KIEV, June 9 – Cooperation between Ukraine and the Netherlands to investigate the Malaysian Airlines MH17 disaster in Donetsk region last summer must continue, Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin said.

DEAUVILLE, June 6 - Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed that Russia's position regarding Ukraine's plans to sign an association agreement with the European Union remains unchanged.

KIEV, June 10 – The Ukrainian government and the central bank are fulfilling all outlined criteria in their cooperation with the International Monetary Fund, which allows it to expect that the IMF will approve the provision of a second disbursement under the Stand-By Arrangement, National Bank of Ukraine Governor Stepan Kubiv said.

BRUSSELS, June 10 - NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said he is confident that Petro Poroshenko's assuming the post of the new president of Ukraine will facilitate the speedy settlement of the Ukrainian crisis.

KIEV, June 10 – Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has said that the fighting in eastern Ukraine must be stopped this coming week.

"We must ensure ceasefire this week," Poroshenko told the trilateral contact group for implementing the peace plan for eastern Ukraine in Kiev on Sunday.

KIEV, June 10 - Ukraine and the United States "will be good partners in the future," Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said at a meeting with U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, who had been present at the Ukrainian leader's presidential inauguration in Kiev earlier on Saturday.

KIEV, June 10 - No official visits of Russian representatives to Ukraine or Ukrainian ones to Russia are being planned now, Russian Ambassador to Ukraine Mikhail Zurabov said.

KIEV, June 10 - Pro-Russian separatists attacked Ukrainian military checkpoints and other strategic points in eastern Ukraine overnight but they were beaten off with only minor casualties on the Ukrainian side, Reuters reported Tuesday citing a government forces spokesman.

BRUSSELS, June 10 - Russia and Ukraine will resume efforts to resolve a gas pricing dispute on Wednesday after a Russian deadline for Kiev to pay some of its debts passed without Moscow cutting off supplies, Reuters reported.