In the settlement of Schastje near Lugansk, about a hundred people died in the last 24 hours, the president of the Lugansk People's Republic (LNR) Valery Bolotov said today.
He says that as soon as Ukrainian soldiers took control of the settlement, they started shooting civilians, mostly men, the Voice of Russia reported.
Bolotov also says that the Ukrainian army is trying to cut off self-defense forces from the border with Russia.
"The Kiev junta is tightening the ring around the Lugansk People's Republic. The aggressor is trying to cut us off from the border," Bolotov says, Voice of Russia reports.
He explains that this will create a problem when evacuating the refugees.
The president of the LNR also said that he has information that the Ukrainian army is preparing for the total cleansing of Luhansk from the federalists, the Voice of Russia reported.
In one day, 13.000 refugees from Ukraine
In the last 24 hours, more than 13.000 refugees have arrived from war-torn areas in Ukraine to the Rostov region, in the south of Russia, said the Russian ombudsman for children's rights, Pavel Astahov.
As reported by Itar tas, he specified that 13.536 refugees arrived in Russia in one day, while 4.124 people returned from Russia to Ukraine.
1.674 people participated in accepting and caring for refugees, and 576 vehicles were engaged.
A 24-hour telephone line has been opened in the Rostov region, which can be used by people coming from Ukraine to get all the necessary information, Astakhov said.
Arrests of the attackers of the Russian embassy
The Kyiv police arrested three of the most active participants in yesterday's attack on the Russian embassy in Kyiv.
Their behavior was qualified as hooliganism, which violated the boundaries of a peaceful protest.
Lavrov: The attackers of the embassy wanted bloodshed
The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, said today that the attackers of the Russian embassy in Kiev had the intention of occupying that diplomatic mission and causing bloodshed.
"Our diplomats got the impression that the attackers intended to physically occupy the embassy. Based on this, we have reason to believe that they wanted to cause bloodshed," Lavrov said.
Russian journalists arrested in Ukraine
Ukrainian security services are holding two journalists from the Russian TV station Zvezda, who were arrested at a checkpoint in eastern Ukraine.
Yesterday, the Ukrainian National Guard arrested Nikita Konachenkov and Yevgeny Davydov at a checkpoint near the Dnipropetrovsk airport, west of Donetsk.
The journalists were returning to Russia after reporting on the conflict between Ukrainian forces and pro-Russian activists in eastern Ukraine.
"The management of the television is calling on Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko to release them," stated the television station Zvezda.
Two other journalists of the same television, suspected of spying on Ukrainian military operations, were arrested at the beginning of June at a checkpoint near Slavyansk. They were released after a few days.
TV Zvezda works under the auspices of the Russian Ministry of Defense and broadcasts mainly patriotic programs, according to France Press.
Two Russian journalists from the Life News website were arrested in the same area in May. They were suspected of carrying anti-aircraft missiles.
The journalists were released after a week following the intervention of Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov. The Kremlin then awarded those journalists.
Ban Ki-moon: Solving the crisis through dialogue
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed to Ukrainian and pro-Russian forces to immediately stop armed hostilities and to seek a solution to the crisis through dialogue.
In a statement, the head of the UN expressed his concern that recent diplomatic efforts in this direction did not bear fruit, appealing to both sides to urgently apply the provisions of the Geneva Agreement of April 17, which offers a clear path to a peaceful solution, reports Itar-Tas.
By the way, on June 12, Russia submitted to the UN Security Council a draft resolution calling on all parties to the conflict to refrain from actions that threaten the lives and safety of civilians and expressing concern over the use of prohibited weapons by the Ukrainian army, including incendiary bombs.
Ban's statement expresses support for the newly elected Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko and solidarity with the people of Ukraine in this difficult time. It is emphasized that everyone must do their part to bring Ukraine back from the brink and ensure its unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Fabius and Lavrov on tensions in Ukraine
France assesses that it is "essentially important to create the conditions for a ceasefire in Ukraine", said the head of French diplomacy, Laurent Fabius.
"I underlined that it is essential to create the conditions for a ceasefire, while the situation in the east of the country is still very unstable," Fabius said in a statement after a telephone conversation with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
France also condemned the attack by Ukrainian protesters on the Russian embassy in Kiev.
"It is important to ensure the protection of diplomatic missions," he said.
The head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov, also spoke with his German counterpart earlier in the day.
In a telephone conversation with Frank-Walter Steinmeier, Lavrov expressed special concern over the attack on the Russian embassy in Kiev and the reaction of his Western colleagues, who refused to condemn the attack within the UN Security Council.
"The West gives Kiev a free hand"
The fact that the West did not condemn the attack on the Russian embassy in Kiev is a sign that Ukraine has been given a "free hand" to do whatever it wants, members of the Russian Duma said.
The fact that the UN Security Council did not condemn the attack on the Russian embassy in Kiev last night "means that anyone is now free to attack embassies", stated the head of the Duma's foreign affairs committee Aleksey Pushkov, reports Itar Tass.
The representative of the United Russia party, Vyacheslav Nikonov, emphasized that Russia would condemn an attack on any embassy, anywhere in the world, if it happened. "The fact that the condemnation of the UN Security Council was absent this time shows that Kiev can now do whatever they want, not only to kill, to commit genocide, to destroy peaceful cities and peaceful populations, and even to openly violate the interests of Russia." stated Nikonov.
This is unacceptable, although it is not unexpected because "during the past period we had the opportunity to see that the West closes its eyes to all the wrongdoings of the regime in Kyiv", he added.
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