Good morning.
We'll start the live blog today with an item from our news desk about John McCain who has been urging his country to stay away from Russian space rockets even though SpaceX is not exactly setting the world on fire. It's only of peripheral relevance to Ukraine, but it's interesting how the fallout from the crisis is having an impact on areas that wouldn't autoimatically spring to mind:
The failure of a SpaceX rocket over the weekend should not prompt U.S. officials to consider purchasing Russian-made rockets again to get military equipment into space, a top lawmaker said on June 29.
"This mishap in no way diminishes the urgency of ridding ourselves of the Russian RD-180 rocket engine," said Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John McCain.
The United States last year placed tough new constraints on purchasing Russian-made engines for launching U.S. military satellites in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea and other aggressive moves in Ukraine.
The U.S. Air Force recently advertised for U.S. companies to supply rocket engines, and the up-and-coming SpaceX was considered likely to win a contract.
But on June 28, an unmanned SpaceX rocket carrying cargo to the International Space Station exploded after liftoff in Florida, raising questions about its readiness.
McCain said Elon Musk's company is still in contention, however.
"I am confident that this minor setback will in no way impede the future success of SpaceX and its ability to support U.S. national security space missions," he said.
(Reuters, AP)
That concludes our live-blogging of the Ukraine crisis for Monday, June 29, 2015. Check back here tomorrow morning for more of our continuing coverage.
Here's a map of the latest situation in the Donbas region -- issued by Ukraine's Defense Ministry (click image to enlarge):
Here's an update on gas prices from our news desk:
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev says natural-gas prices for Ukraine will be reduced to $247 per 1,000 cubic meters.
Medvedev said during a meeting with Gazprom head Aleksei Miller and Energy Minister Aleksandr Novikov in Moscow on June 29 that the price for gas will be reduced by $40 because of falling global energy prices.
Further decisions on pricing will depend on fluctuations in global prices, Medvedev added. He said the price charged to Ukraine is "comparable" to rates paid by neighboring countries such as Poland.
Medvedev stressed that the reduction comes at the request of Kyiv. "Despite the complications in our relations, we are ready to help out our partners," Medvedev said.
Russia and Ukraine are set to hold the next round of EU-mediated gas talks in Brussels on June 30.
Medvedev said Moscow is counting on an "adequate reaction" from Kyiv and Brussels to the latest reduction.
(ITAR-TASS, Interfax)