Latest from the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) in Ukraine based on information received until 3 July 2014, 18:00 (Kyiv time)

This update is provided for the media and the public.

Tensions remained in parts of Donbas. The situation was calm elsewhere across the country.

In Kharkiv, the situation remained calm.

The situation in parts of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions was tense and unchanged compared to previous days.

The chief of police in Donetsk informed the SMM that three policemen were killed and one seriously injured by two unidentified assailants in Donetsk city. A police investigation is ongoing.

The situation in Dnepropetrovsk, Kherson, Odessa, Chernivtsi, Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv was calm.

The situation in Kyiv was calm. On 3 July during the swearing-in ceremony of the new Ukrainian defence minister, the SMM observed approximately 300 members of the “Donbas” battalion forming a protective cordon around the entrance to the Parliament building. The SMM also noticed the presence of large numbers of security forces, namely those of the Ukrainian regular police, the special battalion of the National Guard “Kyiv 1”, and Kyiv city guard members. Close to the Parliament, the “Donbas” battalion set up a recruitment tent.