Russian and US foreign ministers agree on the need to implement the Minsk agreement.

On June 15, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his US counterpart John Kerry had confirmed the need for all parties to implement the Minsk agreement on Ukraine.

Ukrainian soldiers patrol the eastern city of Mariinka on June 5. (Source: AFP/VNA)

Following a phone call between the two foreign ministers, the ministry said that Lavrov and Kerry stressed the importance of renewed efforts to prevent violations of the ceasefire in eastern Ukraine, where more than 6,100 people have been killed.

In related developments, hundreds of Ukrainians held a rare protest outside the self-proclaimed Donetsk authorities' offices in eastern Ukraine on the same day, demanding that the separatists remove rocket launchers from the densely populated area and stop provoking Ukrainian government forces to shell their homes.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian websites reported on the same day that Mikhail Tolstoy, also known as Givi, commander of the Somali Battalion of the separatist militia, was seriously wounded in clashes with Ukrainian security forces near Donetsk airport.

(According to AFP/VNA, VN+)