Kiev said Tuesday that Russia had cut off electricity to Ukraine's rebel-run regions in what appears to be another sign that Moscow is losing interest in plans to splinter its neighbor.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has gone through an extended spell without peppering his speeches with mentions of a "New Russia" (Novorossiya) made up of Ukrainian lands that were once under tsarist control.

Five Ukrainian soldiers were killed when a landmine exploded in the separatist east, a military spokesman said Sunday, as clashes raged on despite a four-month truce.

"Five of our soldiers died and three more were wounded as a result of a landmine explosion" some 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the pro-Russian rebel hub Lugansk, military spokesman Oleksandr Motuzyanyk told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday said relations between Moscow and Washington were key to ensuring global stability and called for dialogue based on "equality and respect."

In a message to his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama on Independence Day in the United States, Putin said U.S.-Russian relations were "the key factor in ensuring stability and security in the world, despite the differences" between the two countries.

Pro-Russian fighters have withdrawn from a strategic frontline village, Ukraine's military reported on Friday, although some troops doubted whether the surprise retreat and lull in fighting would last.

Lying just 10 kilometers (six miles) east of the Sea of Azov industrial port of Mariupol -- the target of repeated rebel attacks -- Shyrokyne has been one of the deadliest hotspots of the 15-month separatist crisis in the ex-Soviet state's industrial east.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Friday said Ukraine's perceived failure to agree with rebels on implementing a peace deal was "alarming" and urged the West to pressure Kiev.

"The situation is alarming because we're witnessing a tendency, if you will," Russia's top diplomat told reporters.

Malaysia told the Security Council on Thursday that it plans to present a draft resolution soon on creating a U.N. tribunal to try those responsible for the downing of a Malaysia Airlines flight over Ukraine.

All 298 passengers and crew on board flight MH17 -- the majority of them Dutch -- died when the plane was shot down on July 17 last year.

A top pro-Russian rebel announced plans Thursday to hold local elections in October that would cement the separatists' semi-autonomous status within a united Ukraine.

Alexander Zakharchenko said the October 18 vote would be conducted "on the basis of Ukrainian law...in the parts where it does not contradict the constitution and law" of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic.

Russia on Thursday criticized proposed changes to Ukraine's constitution, saying Kiev authorities "absolutely" ignored the demands put forward by Moscow-aligned separatists.

On Wednesday Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko proposed constitutional changes giving more powers to the regions but refusing to spell out the rebels' semi-autonomous status in the constitution.

A new public-relations war raged Thursday between Moscow and Kiev after Ukraine deported a reporter with Russia's Channel One television for allegedly running "destructive" stories about the crisis-torn ex-Soviet state.

Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) said it had expelled Alexandra Cherepnina for basing one of her stories on a home video in which a Ukrainian child was shown performing a Nazi salute and wielding a knife while calling for the murder of Russians.

A Ukrainian soldier was killed in  fighting in the separatist east, a Kiev military spokesman said Wednesday, as clashes raged on despite a four-month truce.

"We lost one soldier and 10 more were injured" in the previous 24 hours of fighting, top military spokesman Andriy Lysenko told reporters.