The apparent landslide victory of Volodymyr Zelenskiy, 41, is a bitter blow for incumbent Petro Poroshenko who tried to rally Ukrainians around the flag by casting himself as a bulwark against Russian aggression and a champion of Ukrainian identity.

Russia will launch the biggest military drills in its history on 11 September 2018. The biggest war game will involve 300,000 troops, in a move North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) denounced as "exercising large-scale conflict". Dubbed as "Vostok-2018", the drill will include soldiers from China and Mongolia

The death of a pro-Russian separatist leader in the conflict-ridden eastern Ukraine could serve to escalate tensions in the region and impede the so-called Minsk peace process, a Kremlin spokesperson said on Saturday.

The automatic radiation monitoring system at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant here has been hit by a cyber attack and monitoring was being carried out manually, a Ukrainian federal agency said.

Urging both Russia and pro-separatists in the Ukraine to immediately respect the ceasefire, Tillerson made the remarks in a phone call with Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko on Sunday, Efe news reported.

A Malaysian Airliner MH17 was on Thursday shot down via missile near Ukraine border.