MOSCOW (Reuters) -Ukrainian troops have made further attempts to breach the Russian border in the Kursk and Belgorod regions, the Russian Defence Ministry said on Friday as President Vladimir Putin hosted world leaders at a major military parade in Moscow.

As the clock approached the time the Kremlin said its guns would fall silent for three days, the men at the National Guard monitoring center in eastern Ukraine had absolutely no faith in Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ceasefire.

PARIS (Reuters) - The United States and its European allies are finalising a proposal for a 30-day ceasefire in Ukraine that if refused would see them jointly impose new sanctions on Russia, a French diplomatic source said on Friday.