Ukraine’s belief it was forging closer ties with the West was shaken by Brexit, but it remains a vital ally on the frontier between democracy and autocracy writes Erik Berglof.

An explosion ripped through a coal mine before dawn in war-torn eastern Ukraine, killing one miner and trapping more than 30 others underground, rebel and government officials said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry has laid out what he called overwhelming evidence of Russian complicity in the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 and called rebels’ behaviour "grotesque".

US and European leaders have called for international investigators to be given full access to the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 crash site after rebels in eastern Ukraine took control of the recovered bodies.